Railway  Business  Association  Bulletin  No.  8 


The  Revolution  in 
Freight  Claims 

Story  of  How  By  Co-operation  the  Shippers,  the 
Railways  and  the  Government  have  Trans- 
formed a National  Grouch  Into  Fast  Spreading 
Satisfaction 


“ Carriers  not  only  ready  but  more  than  willing  to  cooperate 
— Hon.  James  S.  Harlan,  Interstate  Commerce 
Commissioner 

uJVe  have  had  no  real  complaints  from  our  members  for  more 
than  a year  past.^ — J.  M.  BELLEVILLE,  Chairman  Freight 
Claims  Committee,  National  Industrial  Traffic  League, 
representing  80,000  shippers 

u We  want  to  hear  the  grievances  of  the  American  people.” 
— J.  S.  TuSTIN,  President,  Freight  Claim  Association, 
representing  all  the  railways  of  the  United  States 


July  17,  1911 


<*> 


The  work  of  promoting  better  relations  between  the  public  and  the  railways 
leads  the  Railway  Business  Association  into  other  fields  than  that  of  the  public 
discussion  of  proposed  legislative  enactments  and  regulatory  decrees,  The  rail- 
ways are  constantly  doing  progressive  and  creditable  things’  of  which  the  public 
should  be  told. 

One  of  our  important  functions  is  to  investigate  conditions  first  hand  and 
report  the  facts  as  we  find  them , giving  credit  where  credit  is  due,  whether  to 
carriers  or  to  their  patrons,  and  admonition  to  both  as  the  findings  dictate. 

Absence  of  any  recent  emergency  inviting  our  public  activity  has  given 
opportunity  for  a special  inquiry  which  has  taken  our  representatives  into  many 
States  and  into  relation  with  many  organizations  to  acquire  a comprehensive 
understanding  of  the  question  of  freight  claims . Five  years  ago  practically  every  • 
shipper  in  the  United  States  regarded  freight  claims  as  a grievance.  To-d^y 
many  of  the  men  employed  to  handle  such  claims  for  concerns  or  for  bureaus  say 

that  while  there  is  still  room  for  improvement,  the  advance  already  made  is 

practically  a revolution.  It  is  significant  that  this  achievement  is  the  product  of 
co-operation  and  has  been  secured  almost  wholly  without  recourse  to  legislation 
or  litigation. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  the  best  advertisement  a railway  can  have  is  its 
claim  department.  A reputation  for  prompt  settlement  and  fair  dealing  attracts 
traffic.  It  is  equally  true  that  an  efficient  claim  department  is  the  best  diplomatic 
corps  a carrier  can  have  for  fostering  friendly  relations  with  the  public. 

With  this  old  saw  about  the  claim  department  as  a good  advertisement  for 
the  carrier,  a new  one  might  go,  applying  to  the  shipper.  He  will  never  get  as 
much  net  benefit  out  of  claims  paid  him  by  the  railway  as  by  so  packing  and 
marking  his  goods  that  they  reach  the  consignee  promptly  and  in  good  order. 

At  the  freight  house  the  shipping  public  meets  the  carrier  in  direct  contact 
and  completes  the  circuit.  Let  us  be  candid  about  this  matter.  Shippers  are  not 
without  fault  as  contributors  to  the  vexations  arising  from  loss  and  damage 
claims.  Fair  minded  men  concede  this.  Business  organizations  have  urged  their 
members  to  improve  shipping  methods;  carriers,  through  the  organizations  in  a 
dozen  departments  affected,  have  studied  and  experimented,  and  machinery  has 
been  created  which  gives  hope  that  further  co-operation  will  ultimately  remove 
causes  for  freight  claim  grievances  to  a minimum. 

One  purpose  of  this  Bulletin  is  to  inform  the  general  public,  mainly  in  the 
language  of  shippers,  that  in  connection  with  this  ancient  grievance  satisfaction 
has  largely  taken  the  place  of  resentment.  A second  purpose  is  to  impress  on 
shippers  some  of  the  things  they  can  do  to  help  achieve  still  better  methods..  .Yet 
another  purpose  is  to  lay  before  the  carriers , together  with  the  praise,  the  criticisms 
still  made , in  the  confidence  that  they  desire  full  information  and  will  act  with 
vigor  upon  any  feasible  suggestions. 

GEO.  A.  POST, 

President,  Railway  Business  Association 


* 


The 

« 

Revolution,  in  Freight  Claims 

Shippers  from  Seattle  to  Boston  Tell  of  the  Wonderful  Improve- 
ment Accomplished  by  Co-operation  in  Methods  of  Adjusting 
Freight  Claims  and  Preventing  Loss,  Damage  and  Overcharge — 
Praise  and  Appreciation  from  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission 


From  representatives  of  shippers’  or- 
ganizations and  individual  shippers  from 
coast  to  coast,  the  Railway  Business  As- 
sociation has  secured  an  extraordinary 
symposium  of  assurances  that  in  the  past 
two  or  three  years  co-operation  between 
the  shippers,  the  carriers,  and  the  gov- 
ernment has  brought  about  a marked 
change  for  the  better  in  the  methods  of 
adjusting  freight  claims  and  of  prevent- 
ing loss,  damage  and  overcharge. 

Before  quoting  briefly  from  represent- 
ative letters,  two  communications  written 
to  the  Railway  Business  Association  at 
its  request  are  given  in  full.  The  first 


is  from  the  Hon.  James  S.  Harlan,  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commissioner,  to 
whom  the  subject  of  freight  claims  has 
been  especially  assigned  and  who  is  chair- 
man of  a special  committee  on  this  sub- 
ject of  the  National  Association  of  Rail- 
way Commissioners.  The  other  letter  is 
from  Mr.  J.  M.  Belleville,  of  the  Pitts- 
burgh Plate  Glass  Company,  Chairman 
of  the  Freight  Claims  Committee  of  the 
National  Industrial  Traffic  League,  an 
organization  said  to  represent  directly  or 
through  delegates  from  organizations 
80,000  shippers. 


' COMMISSION  GRATIFIED  BY  CARRIERS’  CO-OPERATION 

By  the  Hon.  James  S.  Harlan, 

Interstate  Commerce  Commissioner 


“From  the  many  informal  complaints 
reaching  us  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
the  Commission  long  ago  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  the  adjustment  of  claims  in 
general  ought  in  the  public  interest  to 
be  put  on  some  sounder  basis,  and  it  was 
a matter  of  no  small  gratification  to  us  to 
find  the  carriers  not  only  ready  hut  more 
than  willing  to  co-operate  in  an  investi- 
gation looking  to  the  adoption  of  a uni- 
form system  of  dealing  with  claims, 
whether  arising  through  loss  of  or  dam- 
age to  freight  in  transit,  or  out  of  the 
JJ  collection  of  charges  at  variance  with 
the  published  rates. 

?“We  therefore,  through  our  Division 
of  Accounts,  entered  upon  an  investiga- 
3 tion  with  a special  Committee  of  Con- 


ference of  the  Freight  Claim  Association, 
and  for  a year  and  a half,  Mr.  Adams, 
on  behalf  of  the  Commission,  in  co-oper- 
ation with  the  special  committee,  has  had 
the  matter  under  consideration.  The 
Freight  Claim  Association,  through  its 
special  committee,  in  a broad  way  has 
manifested  its  disposition  to  meet  the  de- 
sire of  the  Commission  to  arrive  so  far 
as  possible  at  some  uniformity  in  the 
treatment  and  the  adjustment  of  claims. 

Much  Progress  Made 

“The  Commission,  on  the  other  hand, 
without  having  examined  the  extent  and 
the  limitations  of  its  authority  to  pre- 
scribe methods  and  forms  governing  such 


3 


# 


matters,  has  indicated  its  willingness  to 
prescribe  the  system  that  may  be  agreed 
upon  to  the  extent  that  it  lawfully  may 
control  the  matter  by  order,  and  to  give 
its  moral  support  and  encouragement  to 
such  parts  of  the  system  arrived  at  that 
may  not  be  within  our  power  to  prescribe. 

“I  am  advised  that  much  progress  has 


been  made,  and  it  is  my  hope  that  in  the 
near  future  a general  understanding  will 
be  arrived  at,  one  result  of  which  when 
made  effective — and  by  no  means  the  least 
important  result — -will  be  the  prompt  ad- 
justment of  claims,  and  particularly  those 
that  arise  out  of  the  misapplication  of 
rates.” 


NATIONAL  LEAGUE  DECLARES  PROGRESS  PHENOMENAL 

By  J.  M.  Belleville, 

Chairman  of  the  Freight  Claims  Committee , National  Industrial  Traffic  League, 

Representing  80,000  Shippers 


“Probably  no  one  thing  has  caused  so 
much  friction  between  the  railroads  and 
the  public  as  the  extremely  bad  handling 
of  freight  claims  which  persisted  during 
a long  period  of  years.  Ten  years  ago — 
yes,  even  as  late  as  five  years  ago — the 
conditions  in  this  regard  were  extremely 
bad.  Legitimate  claims  for  overcharge 
which  ought  to  have  been  settled  at  sight, 
or  at  the  outside  within  30  days,  were 
held  up  for  anywhere  from  six  months 
to  two  or  three  years,  and  claims  for 
damage,  where  there  was  no  dispute 
whatever  as  to  liability  of  the  carrier  to 
the  consignee  or  shipper,  as  the  case 
might  be,  were  held  up  for  months  and 
more  frequently  for  years,  while  the 
claim  agents  for  the  railroads  interested 
fought  out  in  the  most  deliberate  fashion 
just  how  the  amount  of  loss  should  be 
divided  between  their  respective  com- 
panies. Technical  objections  of  every 
kind  were  interposed  in  the  interest  of 
delay,  and  claim  agents  seemed  to  be  of 
the  opinion  (and  from  their  standpoint 
with  good  grounds  for  it)  that  their  duty 
was  to  interpose  every  possible  objection 
and  if  possible  prevent  settlement  of 
claims  whether  the  claims  were  just  or 
not,  while  their  duty  under  the  law,  and 
(as  we  looked  at  the  question)  under 
good  business  policy  also,  was  promptly 
to  settle  all  lawful  claims. 

Improvement  Phenomenal 

“The  National  Industrial  Traffic 
League,  on  behalf  of  its  members,  took 


the  position  that  when  more  than  the 
legal  rate  had  been  exacted  by  the  rail- 
road, the  railroad  had  violated  the  law 
and  that  it  was  their  plain  duty  to  purge 
themselves  of  contempt  of  court  by  an 
immediate  adjustment  of  the  claim  when 
supported  by  proper  evidence;  that  on 
claims  for  damage,  where  the  evidence 
was  clear,  settlement  should  be  promptly 
made  and  that  the  railroads  should  use 
their  awn  time  after  settlement  in  decid- 
ing the  division  of  responsibility. 

“Marked  improvement  in  the  settle- 
ment of  claims  began  about  five  years 
ago,  and  the  progress  during  the  last  two 
years  particularly  has  been  phenomenal, 
and  also  extremely  gratifying.  Our 
League  has  given  this  matter  quite  a 
good  deal  of  attention  and  with  good 
results. 

Co-operation  the  Keynote. 

“We  believed  that  more  could  be  ob- 
tained through  real  co-operation  than  by 
legal  action,  and  began  and  continued  our 
campaign  along  these  lines.  We  frankly 
conceded  that  while  there  had  been,  and 
was,  grave  fault  on  the  part  of  the  rail- 
roads, yet  at  the  same  time  shippers  and 
receivers  of  freight  were  also  frequently 
responsible  for  a considerable  part  of  the 
delays. 

“We  agreed  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
shippers  to  deliver  their  goods  to  the  rail- 
roads in  such  packages  and  so  packed  as 
to  withstand  all  ordinary  risks  of  trans- 


4 


♦ 


portation ; to  have  packages  plainly 
marked  and  to  have  shipping  tickets  made 
out  legibly  and  completely ; further,  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  receivers  of  freight  to 
present  claims  for  loss,  damage  or  over- 
charge promptly  and  to  furnish  with 
them  the  necessary  legal  proofs,  and  we 
undertook  to  and  did  thoroughly  edu- 
cate our  members  along  these  lines  by 
means  of  frequent  circulars  and  also  by 
personal  explanations. 

“Through  conferences  with  proper 
committees  of  railroad  officials  we  ar- 
ranged that  the  railroads  should  have 
their  expense  bills  made  out  in  a clear 
and  legible  manner,  furnishing  on  them 
all  necessary  information  to  enable  a 
proper  audit  of  the  bills,  which  was  an 
impossibility  under  the  old  methods. 

Educating  Both  Sides 

“We  also  took  up  with  the  Freight 
Claim  Association  many  of  the  vexed 
questions  in  connection  with  the  handling 
of  claims ; in  other  words,  what  we  un- 
dertook was  a campaign  of  education  on 
both  sides  of  the  question ; that  is  to  say, 
with  the  carriers  on  one  hand  and  the 
shippers  and  receivers  of  freight  on  the 
other.  Naturally,  this  took  time,  and  we 
could  not  expect  abuses  which  had  grown 
up  in  many  years  to  be  at  once  abated. 

“We  have  had  the  most  hearty  co- 
operation from  the  Freight  Claim  Asso- 
ciation, from  the  American  Association 
of  Railway  Accounting  Officers,  the 
American  Railway  Association  and 
others,  and  the  results  brought  about  in 
the  last  three  years,  and  particularly  dur- 
ing the  past  year,  have  been  both  gratify- 
ing and  remarkable. 

High  Order  of  Promptness 

“Under  the  old  conditions  it  was  but 
seldom  that  a claim  for  either  loss,  dam- 
age or  overcharge,  was  adjusted  in  a less 
time  than  90  days,  and  ten  years  ago, 
we  considered  that  if  we  could  get  an 


average  of  settlements  in  six  months  it 
was  a remarkable  record.  Under  present 
conditions,  a majority  of  what  we  call 
straight  overcharge  claims;  that  is,  where 
the  evidence  is  perfectly  clear  and  there 
are  no  complications,  are  settled  inside  of 
30  days,  and  the  writer  knows  of  a num- 
ber of  concerns  who  have  quite  large 
claim  accounts  whose,  record  for  the  year 
1910  shows  an  average  under  60  days  for 
settlement  of  claims  of  all  descriptions. 

“Under  the  old  conditions  damage 
claims  were  rarely,  if  ever,  settled  in  less 
than  six  months  from  the  date  of  their 
filing,  while  during  the  year  1910  a large 
number  of  damage  claims,  as  reported  to 
us  by  various  members,  were  settled 
within  30  days  from  their  presentation. 

No  Complaints  For  a Year 

“We  have  not  had  any  complete  can- 
vass made  among  our  members  as  to  their 
experience  with  regard  to  settlement  of 
claims,  but  from  the  frequent  expressions 
from  a large  number  of  our  members  of 
their  gratification  at  the  greatly  improved 
conditions,  and  also  from  the  fact  that 
we  have  had  no  real  complaints  from 
our  members  for  more  than  a year  past, 
we  are  confident  that  substantial  and  re- 
markable improvement  has  been  made 
and  feel  that  both  parties  are  to  be  con- 
gratulated upon  the  results  obtained. 

“We  believe  that  the  officials  handling 
claims  now  thoroughly  recognize  the 
rights  of  the  public  and  the  duty  which 
they  owe  to  the  public,  and  that  they  are 
honestly  endeavoring  to  expedite  in  every 
possible  way  the  adjustment  of  claims, 
and  that  the  operating  officials  are  mak- 
ing similar  strenuous  efforts  toward  the 
prevention  of  claims,  which,  after  all,  is 
the  thing  most  to  be  desired  both  by  the 
carriers  and  by  the  public. 

“Of  course,  perfection  has  not  been 
obtained  and  never  will  be,  but  we  believe 
that  through  a continuance  of  such  co- 
operation as  has  been  in  evidence  and 


5 


has  been  growing  steadily  during  the  past  claim  question  will  be  reduced  to  the  low- 
two  or  three  years,  our  troubles  on  the  est  possible  minimum.” 

SHIPPERS  FROM  COAST  TO  COAST  ATTEST  IMPROVEMENT 


Mr.  J.  S.  Lincoln,  of  St.  Louis,  Presi- 
dent of  the  same  League,  writes: 

“There  has  been  in  the  past  two  years 
a great  improvement  in  the  promptness 
with  which  claims  are  adjusted.  There 
is,  however,  still  room  for  further  im- 
provement, and  all  should  lend  their 
efforts  toward  bringing  it  about.” 

Pacific  Coast 

From  Seattle  comes  a letter  which  is 
significant,  because  it  was  on  the  Pacific 
slope  that  a demand  arose  for  federal 
legislation  compelling  payment  of  freight 
claims  within  a specified  period.  Mr. 
E.  L.  Fairbanks,  Manager  Freight  Claim 
Department,  Pacific  Coast  Shippers’  As- 
sociation, says: 

“Since  the  establishing  of  this  depart- 
ment, the  average  settlement  of  railway 
claims  has  been  within  30  days,  taking 
all  claims  of  various  kinds  into  con- 
sideration; and  if  the  railway  com- 
panies keep  on  improving  their  claim 
departments  in  the  future  as  they  have 
been  doing  for  the  last  two  years,  we 
believe  that  there  will  be  very  few 
shippers  that  will  have  any  cause  what- 
ever to  complain.” 

Nebraska 

Mr.  E.  J.  McVann,  Manager,  Traffic 
Bureau,  Commercial  Club  of  Omaha, 
writes : 

“The  general  disposition  of  the  carriers 
is  to  pay  just  claims  with  reasonable 
promptness.  This  disposition  is  fre- 
quently defeated  by  unduly  technical 
claim  agents  and  clerks,  but  I have 
not  found  a case  where  the  responsi- 
ble officers  of  the  railways  refuse  to 
give  full  consideration  to  claims  held 
up  for  insufficient  reasons  by  their  own 


claim  departments.  Especial  credit  is 
due  to  those  roads  ( of  which  the 
Chicago , Burlington  & Quincy  is  one) 
that  have  established  a system  of  noti- 
fying their  patrons  of  overcharges  de- 
veloped in  the  checking  of  billing.” 

Kansas  City 

Kansas  City  was  represented  at  a re- 
cent convention  of  Traffic  Officers  of 
Lumber  Companies,  in  Chicago,  by  Mr. 
F.  C.  Broadway,  Traffic  Manager  of  the 
Missouri  Lumber  & Land  Exchange 
Company.  Mr.  Broadway  remarked  to 
his  colleagues  that  the  claims  of  his  com- 
pany were  in  satisfactory  shape , the  ma- 
jority of  them  being  settled  within  30 
days , and  that  he  believed  the  method 
employed  in  filing  them  was  largely  re- 
sponsible for  this  condition. 

Iowa 

From  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  comes  a 
letter,  written  by  Mr.  B.  H.  O’Meara, 
Traffic  Manager  of  Douglas  & Company, 
who  says: 

“On  all  first-class  systems,  there  is  a 
genuine  attempt  at  closing  up  claims 
promptly.  It  is  useless  to  discuss  this 
further  as  it  is  ‘un  fait  accompli.’  ” 

St.  Louis 

Mr.  P.  W.  Coyle,  Traffic  Commis- 
sioner of  the  Business  Men’s  League  of 
St.  Louis,  says : 

“Claims  are  now  handled  with  despatch 

and  general  satisfaction  obtains.” 

Mr.  S.  E.  Jones,  John  Deere  Plow  Com- 
pany, St.  Louis: 

“During  the  last  three  years  our  claims 
against  railroads  have  been  investi- 
gated and  settled  very  promptly  when 


6 


compared  with  their  method  of  hand- 
ling claims  prior  to  that  time.” 

The  Southwest 

Regarding  the  Southwest  in  general, 
including  the  multitude  of  shippers  at 
small  stations,  the  results  of  a recent 
mail  canvass  among  station  agents  is 
confidential  as  to  names  and  places,  but 
can  be  given  in  substance.  The  States 
covered  are  Arkansas,  Colorado,  Illinois, 
Kansas,  Louisiana,  Missouri,  Nebraska, 
and  Oklahoma.  Almost  without  excep- 
tion, agents  reported  much  increased 
satisfaction  among  shippers,  not  only  re- 
ferring to  the  road  served  by  the  agent, 
but  to  his  competitors,  if  any,  as  well. 

Chicago 

A similar  canvass  has  just  been  made 
in  Chicago  by  a committee  of  the  As- 
sociation of  Commerce,  local  shippers 
telling  their  own  experience  and  writing 
to  hundreds  of  consignees  for  theirs. 
About  20  letters  from  Chicago  shippers 
were  read  in  confidence,  of  which  all 
save  two  or  three  said  there  had  been  a 
marked  improvement  in  handling  their 
claims  in  recent  years,  though  not  in  the 
past  year  (a  special  condition  arising 
from  increased  claims,  activity  of  the  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commission  through 
its  examiners  in  restricting  payment 
within  more  rigid  definitions,  and  an 
order  by  the  Commission  forbidding  any 
payment  before  liability  is  established.) 
In  mentioning  the  improvement  in 
prompt  payments  to  Chicago  claimants, 
shippers  reported  that  there  was  need  of 
fortifying  the  situation  at  outside  points, 
where  the  consignee  is  not  able  to  main- 
tain a traffic  or  claims  manager,  and  the 
railway  representative  has  less  authority 
to  act  than  the  officers  at  larger  centres. 

An  extraordinary  result  has  been 
achieved  in  Chicago  by  Sears,  Roebuck 
& Co.,  which  has  relations  with  prac- 
tically all  the  railroads  of  the  country. 
Some  years  ago  this  establishment  had 
very  large  sums  in  unsettled  claims 


against  railroads.  This  account,  we  are 
informed,  is  now  down  to  some  ten  per 
cent,  of  its  former  size.  Mr.  J.  W. 
Hicks,  Traffic  Manager  of  Sears,  Roe- 
buck & Co.,  writes: 

“With  no  important  exceptions  our 

claims  are  handled  to-day  in  a manner 
that  is  entirely  satisfactory  to  us.  In 
the  past  two  and  a half  years  we  have 
been  enabled,  through  the  co-operation 
of  the  railroad  companies,  to  materially 
reduce  the  amount  of  outstanding 
claims  against  the  railroad  and  express 
companies,  and  with  scarcely  a single 
exception  we  have  found  the  car- 
riers willing  to  co-operate  with  and 
assist  us  in  securing  this  result.  There 
are  very  few  claims  on  our  books  to- 
day that  we  can  say  have  been  open  for 
an  unreasonable  period  of  time.  As  a 
rule,  the  railroads  are  thoroughly  busi- 
nesslike in  their  methods  of  adjust- 
ment and  settlement  and  courteous  and 
reasonable  in  any  nece$sary  corres- 
pondence incident  to  the  handling  of 
these  claims.” 

Although  Mr.  Hicks  generously  gives 
credit  to  the  carriers,  the  railway  officers 
inform  us  that  the  company  has  contrib- 
uted a very  large  part  of  the  improve- 
ment through  the  effective  system  in- 
stalled. 

Pittsburgh 

Co-operation  has  been  promoted  in 
Pittsburgh,  as  in  other  cities,  through  a 
Traffic  Club  composed  of  representatives 
of  shippers  and  of  carriers.  At  the  last 
annual  banquet  of  the  club,  the  state- 
ment was  made  that  for  several  years  no 
shipper  who  is  a member  of  the  club  has 
had  before  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  a controversy  with  a rail- 
road which  is  a member  of  the  club.  This 
refers  not  only  to  freight  claims,  but  to 
all  other  kinds  of  differences. 

Buffalo 

From  Buffalo,  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Frederick, 
General  Traffic  Manager  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  Manufacturers’  Club, 


<• 


writes  that  where  clear  receipts  are  given 
through  ignorance  or  misunderstanding 
of  the  cart  man,  “carriers  have  given  evi- 
dence of  their  desire  to  co-operate  with 
shippers  by  accepting  affidavits  or  other 
satisfactory  proofs”  of  loss  or  damage; 
and  Mr.  Frederick  adds  on  the  general 
question  of  preventing  loss  and  damage, 
that  the  railroads  are  co-operating  with 
the  shippers  “by  tracing  shipments  that 
have  gone  astray,  with  the  view  of  ef- 
fecting delivery  and  thereby  preventing 
the  necessity  of  entering  claims  for  their 
value.” 

Philadelphia 

Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly,  Freight  Commission- 
er, Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
says : 

“My  (experience  so  far  as  it  relates  to 
the  railroads  entering  this  city  will  seem 
to  indicate  that  claims  for  loss  and  dam- 
age are  being  adjusted  much  more 
promptly  than  heretofore.  Much  im- 
provement has  been  made  in  the  time  it 
takes  carriers  to  investigate  claims.” 

New  York 

In  New  York,  neither  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
Transportation,  nor  the  Merchants’  As- 
sociation has  found  it  necessary  to  estab- 
lish a freight  claims  bureau.  The  most 
difficult  class  of  traffic  to  deal  with  as 
to  claims  is  fruit  and  produce,  both  be- 
cause of  the  widely  scattered  shippers 
and  farmers,  inevitably  weak  on  packing 
and  marking  methods,  and  also  because 
the  goods  are  perishable  and  give  rise 
easily  to  claims  for  deterioration  and 
damage.  Mr.  Thomas  P.  Wallace,  Pres- 
ident of  the  Fruit  and  Produce  Trade 
Association  of  Greater  New  York,  an  or- 
ganization comprising  about  80  per  cent, 
of  the  dealers  in  that  district,  writes : 
“Speaking  for  the  Fruit  and  Produce 
Trade  Association  of  Greater  New 
York,  I would  say  that  we  find  a great 
improvement  has  taken  place  with  the 
various  transportation  companies  in 


the  matter  of  settling  claims  when 
properly  presented.  This  improve- 
ment has  taken  place  in  the  last  five 
years,  and  I think  the  Transportation 
Committee  of  our  association,  working 
with  the  various  lines,  have  had  an  im- 
portant influence  in  bringing  about  this 
result.  Much  of  the  trouble  in  our 
line  of  business  in  the  past  has  been 
caused  by  carelessness  of  the  shippers 
in  marking  and  billing  their  goods. 
This  is  gradually  being  eliminated,  and 
I hope  to  see  still  better  results  in  the 
near  future.” 

New  England 

New  England  is  particularly  interested 
in  shipments  of  cotton,  a commodity 
which  is  graded  into  varieties,  each  hav- 
ing its  own  purpose  and  machinery 
adapted  to  preparing  it  for  manufacture. 
Some  years  ago,  through  errors  in  for- 
warding, mills  were  continually  getting 
the  wrong  kind  of  cotton.  The  Trans- 
portation Agency  of  the  Arkwright  Club, 
the  organization  of  cotton  manufacturers, 
established  the  New  England  Cotton 
Freight  Claim  Bureau,  the  manager  of 
which,  Mr.  T.  F.  Leavitt,  writes : 

“Our  experience  in  the  past  three  years 
and  a half,  since  this  bureau  was  or- 
ganized, has  shown  a decided  improve- 
ment  on  the  part  of  the  transportation 
companies  in  the  handling  and  adjust- 

ment of  freight  claims  and  other  com- 
plications natural  in  the  handling  of 
cotton  shipments  to  New  England. 
This  improvement  has  not  only  been 
with  the  railroads  in  New  England,  but 
there  has  been  a general  improvement 
all  over  the  country  with  the  carriers 
interested  particularly  in  the  handling 
of  cotton.” 

Another  New  England  witness  is  Mr. 
Charles  M.  Cox,  President  of  the  Charles 
M.  Cox  Company,  of  Boston,  who  pays 
a high  compliment  to  the  Boston  & 
Maine  Railroad,  the  freight  claim  agent 
of  which  is  Mr.  H.  F.  Bidwell,  and  the 
New  Haven  Railroad,  of  which  the 


8 


freight  claim  agent  is  Mr.  G.  L.  Winlock. 
Mr.  Cox  gives  the  figures  of  amounts 
outstanding  in  a period  of  years,  showing 
that  those  of  the  Boston  & Maine  in  19  n 
had  been  reduced  84  per  cent,  over  1905, 
and  of  the  New  Haven  65  per  cent,  over 
1905.  Mr.  Cox  says : 

“Our  business  is  to  bring  grain  in  car- 
load lots  into  New  England  from  the 
West  and  South  and  distribute  it  to 
various  and  sundry  points  all  over  the 
six  New  England  States.  Our  business 
was  much  larger  in  1910  than  any 
previous  year,  which  makes  the  de- 
crease in  claims  all  the  more  signifi- 
cant. The  same  conditions  apply  in 
general  to  most  all  the  railroads. 
“You  ask  what  methods  we  have  adopted 
to  effect  improvement,  and  would  say 


that  we  cannot  claim  to  have  done 
anything.  On  the  contrary,  we  find 
that  our  efforts  to  collect  claims  have 
been  materially  reduced.  We  do  not 
now  make  nearly  as  many  claims  as 
formerly.  The  railroads  are  handling 
the  business  more  carefully,  both  in 
regard  to  overcharge  in  freight  and 
damage  to  property.  Five  to  ten  years 
ago  we  were  obliged  to  employ  a high- 
priced  clerk  to  give  a large  share  of 
his  time  to  this  work,  whereas  it  is 
now  handled  with  much  less  expense. 
The  managing  force  of  the  office  often- 
times are  obliged  to  give  up  a certain 
share  of  their  time  in  attending  to 
these  matters  in  complicated  cases.  All 
this  has  been  cut  down.” 


HOW  CLAIM  PAYMENTS  MOUNTED  TO  $30,000,000 

Ten  Year  Increase  of  335  Per  Cent,  a Serious  Problem  for  Carriers,  Shippers 
and  Government. 


An  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  problem 
as  affecting  the  carriers  will  appear  from 
the  fact  that  payments  for  loss  and  dam- 
age increased  from  $7,055,622  in  1900  to 
$30,707,675  in  1910,  or  335  per  cent. 
This  was  a jump  from  .764  per  cent, 
of  operating  expenses  in  1900,  to  1.711 
per  cent,  in  1910.  There  were  various 
causes  for  this. 

First,  the  high  prices  of  commodities. 
The  goods  carried  cost  more  to  replace. 

Second,  the  extension  of  producers’ 
and  jobbers’  markets  increased  the  vol- 
ume of  shipments  carried  over  two  or 
more  lines.  This  multiplied  reloadings 
and  hence  risks  of  damage  and  loss. 

Third,  the  roads  equipped  their  claim 
departments  to  handle  accounts  faster. 

Strain  on  Containers 

Fourth,  the  air  brake,  coupling  by  im- 
pact, and  heavier  cars  and  trains,  greatly 
aggravated  the  strain  from  jolting.  As 
President  Ripley  once  observed : “Every- 
thing in  the  car  which  is  not  nailed  down 
is  more  or  less  liable  to  be  broken.” 


Fifth,  the  high  cost  of  lumber  induced 
shippers  in  packing  to  substitute  fibre 
board,  pasteboard  and  such  weaker  con- 
tainers. 

Sixth,  following  the  abolition  of  re- 
bates, large  shippers  through  traffic  man- 
agers and  other  shippers  through  bureaus 
prosecuted  claims  with  greater  vigor. 

This  development  of  a commercial  field 
for  traffic  experts,  together  with  federal 
and  State  demands,  made  it  difficult  for 
the  railways  to  keep  good  men  in  their 
claim  departments  after  training  them. 

These  and  probably  other  perplexities 
made  the  freight  claim  problem  serious 
for  the  railway. 

Serious  for  Shippers 

For  the  shipper  the  situation  became 
acute,  also  for  several  reasons : 

First,  arrearages  had  accumulated  in 
some  cases  to  large  sums.  “A  legitimate 
claim,”  says  President  J.  C.  Lincoln  of 
the  Traffic  League,  “which  is  not 
promptly  adjusted,  is  depriving  a shipper 


9 


I 


of  money  which  he  may  use  and  may  be 
much  in  need  of  in  the  conduct  of  his 
business.” 

Second,  the  extended  use  of  routes  cov- 
ering several  carriers  complicated  the 
process  of  passing  upon  claims.  The 
Freight  Claim  Agent  of  the  Norfolk  & 
Western,  Mr.  W.  S.  Battle,  Jr.,  who  has 
made  substantial  contributions  to  effi- 
ciency in  office  and  interline  procedure, 
writes  that  “claims  would  drag  out  their 
weary  lengths,  the  claimant  waiting  pa- 
tiently or  critically,  as  the  Lord  had 
formed  his  temperament,  while  investi- 
gators bandied  back  and  forth  ‘all  pa- 
pers’ with  a cross-marked  question  on  a 
printed  blank,  generally  ‘Please  advise 
further,’  in  an  effort  to  establish  respon- 
sibility as  between  the  carriers  compos- 
ing the  through  route  over  which  the 
shipment  moved  and  in  which  detail 
claimant  had  no  interest  whatever.”  Some 
shippers  came  to  believe  that  the  claim 
agent’s  title  to  approval  was  to  pay  as 
few  claims  as  possible. 


Opportunity  for  Rebates 

Third,  claim  payments  offered  an  op- 
portunity for  concealed  rebates.  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commissioner  Harlan,  to 
whom  freight  claims  are  assigned,  has 
spoken  of  “the  duty  of  all  concerned,  in 
reference  to  any  practice  that  impairs  the 
integrity  of  the  published  rate;  and  this, 
as  we  all  know,  may  readily  and  easily 
be  done  and  undoubtedly  is  done  in  the 
adjustment  of  claims.” 

The  problem  of  the  shipper,  therefore, 
was  to  secure  prompt  payment,  of  the 
government  to  secure  just  payment,  of 
the  carrier  to  co-operate  for  promptness 
tempered  by  justice,  and  of  all  three  to 
prevent  loss  and  damage,  the  carrier  by 
careful  handling,  the  shipper  by  safe 
packing  and  clear  marking  and  the  Com- 
mission by  recognizing  and  encouraging 
the  obserz’ance  of  these  obligations. 


COMPREHENSIVE  METHODS  OF  THE  CARRIERS 

Many  Railway  Organizations  Co-operate  to  Promote  Prompt  Settlements 
and  Prevent  Loss  and  Damage 


The  first  step  of  the  carriers  was  to 
cut  the  red  tape  of  interline  relations. 
Sectional  freight  claim  associations  were 
rolled  into  one  national  body  with  dis- 
trict “conferences.” 

The  Freight  Claim  Association  puts 
forward  its  most  constructive  and  cour- 
ageous men  as  leaders.  The  President, 
who  has  just  relinquished  office,  Mr.  J. 
S.  Tustin,  of  the  Missouri  Pacific,  has 
extraordinary  ability  both  as  an  organ- 
izer, conferee  and  builder  of  forward 
policies.  It  was  he  who  said : 

“We  zvant  to  hear  the  grievances  of  the 
American  people  and  have  them  ex- 
plained if  the  claimants  are  wrong  and 
have  us  work  for  more  efficiency  if  we 
are  lagging  ” 

Commissioner  Harlan,  addressing  a 
committee  of  the  Association,  remarked 


that  he  hoped  the  claim  agents  would  co- 
operate in  placing  claims  upon  a sound 
and  uniform  basis  zmthout  waiting  to  in- 
quire whether  the  Commission  had  any 
power  in  the  premises  or  not.  Mr.  Tus- 
tin responded: 

“There  is  wrong  to  shun  and  right  to 
espouse,  regardless  of  enactments  of 
law  or  interpretations  of  courts.  In  the 
spirit  of  your  address  this  morning,  Mr. 
Commissioner,  we  are  in  a co-opera- 
tive attitude  and  are  approaching  these 
questions  in  the  spirit  of  the  prophet 
of  Israel,  who  said,  ‘Come,  now,  and 
let  us  reason  together.’  ” 

The  new  President,  Mr.  W.  L.  Stan- 
ley, General  Claim  Agent  of  the  Sea- 
board Air  Line,  has  made  himself  felt 


10 


by  solid  sagacity  and  by  mastering  the 
relation  of  claims  to  the  handling  of 
freight,  and  as  a speaker  he  regulates  a 
ready  tongue  with  an  ingratiating  tact. 

The  Association  has  been  fortunate  in 
its  Secretary,  Mr.  W.  P.  Taylor,  of  Rich- 
mond, who,  although  Traffic  Manager  of 
the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg  & Poto- 
mac, finds  time  to  keep  the  organization 
oiled,  stoked  and  running  on  schedule. 

Object,  Prompt  Settlement 

For  the  explicit  reassurance  of  the 
skeptical,  the  Association  announced  in 
its  Constitution  its  object  as  “ The  prompt 
settlement  of  freight  claims  with  claim- 
ants and  between  carriers.” 

Next  it  adopted  a rule  by  which  any 
road  could  skip  all  Alphonse  and  Gaston 
formalities  with  the  co-ordinate  branch 
of  the  line  where  data  existed  and  hurry 
straight  to  the  local  agent — who  for  this 
purpose  was  practically  a representative 
of  every  other  road  as  well  as  his  own. 
Validity  of  claim  once  established,  the 
claim  can  be  paid  and  the  matter  of  dis- 
tribution as  between  carriers  settled  later. 
Most  lines,  though  not  all,  now  have  this 
practice. 

Interline  codes  and  a judiciary  have 
been  evolved.  An  Arbitration  Commit- 
tee hears  cases  subject  to  review  by  a 
Committee  of  Appeals.  Mr.  A.  B. 
Thompson,  of  the  Lackawanna,  who 


now  occupies  the  post  of  chairman  of 
the  Appeals  Committee,  has  the  confi- 
dence of  the  members  and  fills  to  their 
obvious  satisfaction  a position  of  great 
difficulty  and  importance.  In  nine  or  ten 
years  the  number  of  claims  determined 
by  arbitration  rose  from  35  in  a year  to 
more  than  600. 

The  Freight  Claim  Association  has 
brought  about  a systematic  method  of 
keeping  tabs  on  shipments  from  origin 
to  destination. 

Claim  Office  Improvements 

Each  road  had  its  own  freight  claim 
department  to  be  dealt  with  internally. 
Mr.  Battle,  of  the  Norfolk  & Western, 
has  given  a description  of  this  process 
which  is  doubtless  typical.  His  effort 
was  first  to  organize  an  effective  claim 
office  by  securing  a sufficient  number  of 
efficient  and  intelligent  employees.  He 
installed  phonographs  and  other  labor- 
saving  devices.  Letters  were  written  re- 
questing the  information  desired,  “all 
papers”  being  kept  in  the  office  as  far  as 
possible  to  minimize  loss  of  file. 

The  Burlington  places  its  freight  claims 
in  the  hands  of  the  auditor  of  freight 
accounts,  Mr.  J.  W.  Newell,  who  has 
won  much  praise  for  his  system  of  hand- 
ling undercharges  and  overcharges  in  one 
process — automatically  refunding  with- 
out waiting  for  a claim. 


OTHER  RAILWAY  ASSOCIATIONS  CO-OPERATING 


Other  railway  associations  have  co- 
operated. Marking  and  packing,  after 
prolonged  discussion,  was  made  the  sub- 
ject of  rules  filed  with  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  as  a part  of  the 
classification.  By  these  classification 
rules  the  contents  of  package  will  be 
carried  at  the  rate  prescribed  for  the  class 
in  which  such  contents  falls,  provided  the 
packing  reaches  the  standard  prescribed 
for  that  class.  Lapses  from  standard  in- 
volve penalties  in  the  form  of  higher  rat- 
ing. A given  commodity  packed  in  one 


way  may  travel  at  a different  rate  if 
packed  another  way.  The  organizations 
here  concerned  are  the  three  classification 
committees,  Official,  Southern  and  West- 
ern. Obviously  the  rejection  of  pack- 
ages improperly  marked  and  the  penal- 
izing of  shippers  for  poor  packing  is  in- 
volved with  the  competition  for  tonnage 
and  is  largely  a matter  of  individual 
judgment.  Each  carrier  is  his  own  po- 
liceman, and  there  is  a natural  hesitancy 
about  the  use  of  clubs  on  shippers  who 
are  in  position  to  transfer  their  patron- 


1 


age  to  roads  where  interpretations  are 
less  strict. 

For  an  Umpire  on  Packing 

To  meet  this  situation,  a proposal  was 
made  last  year  at  a conference  arranged 
by  the  General  Managers’  Association  of 
the  Southeast.  That  organization,  under 
the  vigorous  and  enthusiastic  leadership 
of  its  chairman,  Mr.  C.  A.  Wickersham, 
President  of  the  Atlanta  & West  Point 
Railroad,  has  supplemented  its  distribu- 
tion of  documents  bearing  on  marking 
and  packing  by  bringing  about  joint  con- 
ferences for  discussion.  Such  a meet- 
ing was  held  at  Atlanta  in  1910,  attended 
by  committees  from  several  railway  as- 
sociations. Among  the  delegates  was  Mr. 
H.  C.  Barlow,  of  the  Erie  Railroad,  who 
has  given  a great  deal  of  attention  to 
shortcomings  of  the  transportation  de- 
partments of  the  railways  in  handling 
freight,  and  has  delivered  at  meetings  of 
employees  addresses  on  this  subject  full 
of  common  sense  flavored  with  spicy  fun. 
Mr.  Barlow  offered  a resolution,  which 
was  adopted,  that  provision  be  made  on 
a national  scale  similar  to  that  in  the 
Southeast  for  study  and  action  on  loss 
and  damage.  At  the  same  Atlanta  meet- 
ing, Mr.  Battle,  of  the  Norfolk  & West- 
ern, proposed  that  the  Weighing  and  In- 
spection Bureau  of  each  classification 
committee,  representing  all  the  carriers 
and  connected  with  none,  have  added  to 
their  functions  that  of  organizing  and 
rendering  effective  the  classification  rules 
as  to  marking  and  packing,  which  in  prac- 
tice would  include  the  task  of  training 
the  judgment  and  stiffening  the  courage 
of  station  agents.  This  would  provide  a 
system  of  umpires  as  between  carriers  on 
packing  and  marking , and  promote  equal 
treatment  of  shippers  by  all  carriers.  A 
sub-committee  of  10  of  the  Committee 
on  Relations  between  Railways  of  the 
American  Railway  Association  has  been 


established,  and  has  these  suggestions  un- 
der consideration. 

This  Committee  consists  of  Mr.  Arthur 
Hale,  General  Agent  of  the  Association, 
Chairman ; Messrs.  R.  M.  Patterson, 
Superintendent  Freight  Transportation, 
Pennsylvania;  H.  C.  Barlow,  Freight 
Claim  Agent,  Erie ; C.  H.  Ewings,  Super- 
intendent Freight  Transportation,  New 
York  Central;  J.  S.  Tustin,  Freight 
Claim  Agent,  Missouri  Pacific;  J.  F. 
Horrigan,  Freight  Claim  Agent,  Northern 
Pacific;  H.  C.  Howe,  Freight  Claim 
Agent,  Chicago  & Northwestern;  W.  H. 
Gatchell,  Superintendent  Transfers, 
Southern;  A.  C.  Kenly,  Superintendent 
of  Freight,  Atlantic  Coast  Line,  and  W. 
L.  Stanley,  General  Claim  Agent,  Sea- 
board Air  Line. 

Improvement  of  Cars 

Then  there  is  construction  of  cars. 
Here,  acting  under  authority  of  the 
American  Railway  Association,  we  have 
the  Master  Car  Builders’  Association. 
The  evolution  of  car  door  fastenings  and 
running  devices  top  and  bottom  toward 
a higher  standard  of  protection  against 
theft,  of  coupling  and  draft  apparatus  to 
absorb  shock  and  reduce  breakage,  and 
of  special  cars  for  perishable  freight,  has 
year  after  year  been  the  work  of  the  Mas- 
ter Car  Builders.  One  such  change  is  at 
this  writing  in  process  of  seeking  sanc- 
tion. Mr.  E.  D.  Levy,  Assistant  Gen- 
eral Manager  of  the  Frisco,  proposed  in 
1910  at  the  Atlanta  conference  already 
mentioned  that  the  car  door  fastenings 
be  placed  lower  to  facilitate  taking  of 
seal  records  by  an  inspector  standing  on 
the  ground.  The  American  Railway  As- 
sociation has  recommended  the  change, 
which  was  accepted  by  the  Master  Car 
Builders  at  their  1911  meeting  in  Atlan- 
tic City,  subject  to  letter  ballot  now  being 
taken. 


EFFORTS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  ROADS 

A campaign  of  education  on  marking  Mr.  C.  W.  Nash,  of  the  Delaware  & 
and  packing  is  being  carried  on  among  Hudson,  has  inspectors  visit  factories  and 
shippers.  advise  with  manufacturers  as  to  packing. 


12 


Mr.  A.  C.  Kenly,  Superintendent  of 
Freight  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Rail- 
road, photographed  packages  reaching 
destination  in  bad  condition  and  sent  the 
photograph  to  the  shipper  with  a pleas- 
ant letter.  In  every  case  he  received  a 
courteous  reply  .of  thanks.  Finding  that 
such  work  would  occupy  all  his  time  and 
that  of  many  assistants,  he  selected  pho- 
tographs which,  with  a highly  readable 
text,  were  published  in  pamphlet  form 
by  the  General  Managers’  Association  of 
the  Southeast.  Many  complimentary  let- 
* ters  were  received,  particularly  from 
shippers,  and  50,000  copies  sold  to  car- 
riers and  others.  An  order  came  for 
200  copies  from  the  Cape  Town  Gov- 
ernment Railways,  Cape  Town,  South 
Africa,  and  a number  of  chambers  of 
commerce  throughout  the  United  States 
bought  copies  for  distribution  among 
their  own  members,  as  well  as  large  re- 
tail houses  for  distribution  in  their  ship- 
ping departments. 

Improvement  in  cars  was  described  in 
his  Atlanta  speech  by  Mr.  Levy  of  the 
Frisco.  Flour  and  grain  cannot  be 
shipped  by  that  railway  except  in  an  in- 
spected car  bearing  a flour  or  grain  cer- 
tificate card.  To  make  car  doors  rain- 
proof, flour  mills  are  furnished  with 
paper  strips,  nails  and  wedges;  and  to 
protect  grain,  elevators  are  provided  with 
a burlap  outfit. 

For  More  Careful  Handling 

Mr.  Levy  in  the  same  address  advo- 
cated the  placing  of  more  definite  respon- 
sibility for  transportation  failures  upon 
the  transportation  officers,  by  whom,  he 
said,  the  investigation  should  be  made 
and  measures  adopted  to  prevent  a recur- 
rence. He  put  on  10  traveling  agents 
and  a force  of  men  in  the  office  of  the 
superintendent  of  transportation.  Dur- 
x ing  1908  there  were  filed  with  the  freight 
claim  agent  50,058  claims  not  involving 
interline  shipments,  a figure  which  in 
1909,  the  first  year  the  new  method  was 
in  operation,  fell  to  37,803,  or  a decrease 
in  such  claims  of  12,255,  or  24.5  per  cent. ; 


this  in  face  of  an  increase  of  15  per  cent, 
in  freight  earnings. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Gatchell,  Superintendent 
of  Transfers,  Southern  Railway,  has 
been  active  in  expedients  to  improve 
marking  and  packing  and  the  handling  of 
freight.  He  spends  a great  part  of  his 
time  on  the  road  and  keeps  in  close  touch 
with  the  Classification  Committee,  sit- 
ting with  them  at  their  quarterly  meet- 
ings in  order  to  take  part  in  the  discus- 
sions with  respect  to  stronger  containers 
and  better  packing.  Mr.  J.  J.  Hooper, 
Freight  Claim  Agent,  thus  has  the  sys- 
tematic co-operation  of  the  department 
which  handles  the  freight.  A similar  co- 
operation exists  between  the  claim  agent 
and  the  transportation  department  of 
many  lines,  notably  the  Pennsylvania, 
where  Mr.  R.  M.  Patterson,  Superintend- 
ent of  Freight  Transportation,  and  Mr. 
R.  L.  Franklin,  Freight  Claim  Agent, 
have  worked  out  a practical  method  of 
tracing  astray  shipments. 

How  Damage  and  Loss  Happen 

Another  member  of  the  group  who 
has  taken  down  from  the  shelf  a per- 
haps forgotten  talent  for  exhortation  is 
Mr.  R.  L.  Calkins  of  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral. To  the  work  of  the  Freight  Claim 
Association  Mr.  Calkins  has  brought  a 
keen  power  of  analysis  in  discovering 
fundamental  causes  for  claims  and  de- 
vising permanent  remedies.  Wisdom 
based  on  knowledge  and  expressed  in  the 
courteous  language  of  diplomacy  fills  the 
pages  of  his  published  speech  to  railway 
employees.  He  musters  evidence  of  ac- 
tual instances  and  hammers  home  the 
moral  as  he  goes  along.  A package  bear- 
ing only  the  consignee’s  Initials  went 
astray  and  when  found  the  contents  had 
depreciated.  “We  are  now  asked,”  he 
remarks,  “to  assume  the  loss  because  of 
our  failure  to  require  the  shipper  to  mark 
the  goods  in  accordance  with  established 
rules.”  He  enumerates  causes  of  dam- 
age, occasioned  by  leaking  and  otherwise 
defective  packages  which  are  likely  to 
damage  by  contact  dry  goods  and  other 
valuable  merchandise  carried  in  the  same 


13 


car;  also  loading  heavy  freight  on  or 
against  fragile  articles.  Emphasis  is 
laid  upon  the  futility  of  rules  for  hand- 
ling freight  if  not  observed  by  those  who 
do  the  work.  Mr.  Calkins  urges  upon 
receiving  agents  the  obligation  to  exer- 
cise caution  in  the  acceptance  of  freight 
so  conditioned  that  manifestly  it  would 
not  withstand  the  ordinary  risks  of  trans- 
portation. 

Another  expedient  of  the  New  York 
Central  is  to  notify  shippers  immediately 
of  freight  which  has  been  damaged  and 
is  in  such  condition  that  it  cannot  go  for- 
ward. This  enables  the  shippers  to  dupli- 
cate the  goods  and  save  the  customer 
from  loss. 

The  Freight  Handler's  Pocket  Nerve 

An  address  delivered  before  many  au- 
diences of  employees  and  distributed  in 
quantities  among  them  is  “How  to  Han- 
dle Freight,”  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Richards, 
General  Claim  Agent  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railway,  with  an  introduc- 
tion by  President  Gardner.  Mr.  Rich- 


ards talks  straight  and  employs  the  ver- 
nacular. 

After  a few  pungent  remarks  about 
poor  containers,  Mr.  Richards  reaches 
out  for  the  employee’s  pocket  nerve : 
“The  more  money  that  is  saved  in  cut- 
ting down  this  expense,  the  more  there 
will  be  left  in  the  treasury  of  the  com- 
pany for  improving  facilities,  divi- 
dends and  higher  wages.  The  next 
time  your  committee  goes  down  to  Chi- 
cago and  wants  your  hours  shortened 
and  your  pay  raised,  tell  the  General 
Manager  you  have  reduced  the  dam- 
age account  $100,000  by  exercising 
more  care  and  following  instructions.” 
He  adds: 

“Don’t  put  the  heavy  boxes  and  pack- 
ages on  top  all  the  time.  Occasion- 
ally put  some  on  the  floor  of  the  car 
and  put  the  lighter  ones  on  top.  Do 
not  make  a special  effort  to  put  ma- 
chinery on  flour  or  sacks  of  sugar,  and 
DO  NOT  PUT  IT  ON  TOP  OF  AUTOMO- 
BILES.” 


SHIPPERS’  NATIONAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION 

Organizations  Urge  Upon  Members  Better  Methods  of  Packing  and  Marking 
Freight  and  Presenting  Claims 


The  shippers’  method  has  been  to 
study  conditions,  ascertain  causes,  confer 
with  carriers  as  to  remedies,  and  press 
their  adoption  upon  the  individual  ship- 
pers as  well  as  upon  the  railway  officials. 
An  example  of  the  circulars  which  the 
National  Industrial  Traffic  League  has 
distributed  is  one  dealing  with  the 
method  of  presenting  claims  for  “con- 
cealed” loss  or  damage: 

“We  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  our 
members  most  forcibly  to  the  neces- 
sity of  having  all  claims  for  concealed 
loss  verified  by  the  strongest  possible 
evidence,  and  also  to  impress  upon 
them  that  the  railroads  are  required 
under  the  law,  as  interpreted  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  to 
regard  claims  for  concealed  loss  or 
damage  with  suspicion,  and  are  not 
permitted  by  the  law  to  settle  any  such 


claims  unless  and  until  satisfactory  evi- 
dence of  the  liability  of  the  carrier  is 
shown.” 

The  presentation  of  claims,  says  Mr. 
Fairbanks  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Shippers’ 
Association, 

“has  not  been  generally  understood  by 
the  majority  of  the  shippers,  with  the 
consequence  that  a great  many  claims 
come  to  the  average  freight  claim  of- 
fice upon  which  no  explanation  is  made 
as  to  wherein  the  overcharge  lies.  If 
it  is  an  overcharge-in-weight  claim,  no 
evidence  as  to  what  the  proper  weight 
should  be,  and  if  it  is  an  overcharge 
in  rate,  no  tariff  authority,  is  quoted.” 

Investigates  Before  Filing 

A preliminary  investigation  is  con- 
ducted by  some  shippers  before  filing 


14 


claims.  Mr.  F.  C.  Broadway,  Traffic 
Manager,  Missouri  Lumber  & Land  Ex- 
change Company,  Kansas  City,  says: 

“By  that  means  we  are  enabled  to  weed 
out  at  the  beginning  many  items  that 
appear  at  first  glance  to  have  merit. 
We  have  been  materially  assisted  by 
the  carriers  themselves  in  accomplish- 
ing this  end,  for  almost  without  ex- 
ception our  inquiries  for  information 
have  met  with  prompt  and  cheerful  re- 
sponse. This  preliminary  investiga- 
tion has  reduced  the  number  of  claims 
filed.” 

When  representatives  of  shippers’  as- 
sociations met  for  conference  at  the  in- 
vitation of  a committee  of  the  Freight 
Claim  Association,  a circular  was  read, 
which  had  been  issued  by  Col.  John  M. 
Glenn,  Secretary  of  the  Illinois  Manu- 
facturers’ Association,  to  the  members, 
which  said: 

“It  should  be  understood  that  the  send- 
ing out  of  tracers  does  not  expedite 
the  movement  of  freight,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  great  number  of  unnec- 
essary tracers  which  are  sent  out  by 
shippers  make  it  extremely  difficult 
for  the  carriers  to  pay  proper  atten- 
tion to  trace!  s for  qcods  which 
actually  delayed  ” 

Co-operation  in  St.  Louis 

In  St.  Louis  claims  have  been  made  the 
subject  of  definite  agreement.  The  Busi- 
ness Men’s  League  has  as  its  Traffic 
Manager  Mr.  P.  W.  Coyle,  a hard- 
headed  digger  for  facts  and  believer  in 
getting  together.  Mr.  Coyle  tells  a most 
interesting  story  of  bi-weekly  meetings 
of  shippers,  who  by  discussion  and  in- 
vestigation equip  themselves  with  exact 
knowledge  of  the  most  practical  meth- 
ods in  dealing  with  the  carriers.  There 
is  a formal  arrangement  for  joint  con- 
ferences when  necessary  with  representa- 
tives of  the  local  freight  agents  or  claim 
agents.  Mr.  Coyle  writes : 

“A  conference  with  the  claim  agents  of 
all  the  lines  serving  this  city  was  held 
in  St.  Louis  and  a joint  claims  agree- 
ment was  entered  into.  Our  members 


are  pleased  with  the  result  of  this  co- 
operation and  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt  that  more  was  accomplished  by 
it  than  had  we  resorted  to  coercion. 
Claims  are  now  handled  with  dispatch 
and  general  satisfaction  obtains.” 

Coaching  the  Shipper 

Other  methods  are  designed  to  facili- 
tate settlements.  The  Buffalo  Chamber  of 
Commerce  coaches  clients  as  to  the  docu- 
ments required  in  order  to  support  claims 
properly.  Mr.  Frederick,  Traffic  Man- 
ager, adds: 

“The  fact  of  carefully  censoring  claims 
received  from  clients  when  preparing 
them  for  submission  to  the  railroads 
has  occasionally  tended  to  detect  cases 
where  no  valid  claims  exist,  and  at  our 
suggestion  they  were  withdrawn. 
Heretofore  claimants  sometimes  en- 
tered claims  on  the  slightest  pretext 
and  thereby  placed  upon  the  railroads 
the  burden  of  passing  the  cases 
through  their  accounts,  not  to  speak 
of  the  expensive  investigation  fre- 
•quently  made.” 

The  shippers  are  also  under  constant 
pressure  from  their  chosen  leaders  to 
adopt  practices  which  will  tend  to  pre- 
vent causes  of  claims.  Marking,  pack- 
ing and  legibility  of  bills  of  lading  and 
shipping  tickets  are  fruitful  themes. 

To  Avoid  Overcharges 

How  one  individual  shipper  avoids 
overcharges  by  care  on  his  own  part  is 
told  by  Mr.  B.  H.  O’Meara,  Traffic  Man- 
ager, Douglas  & Co.,  Cedar  Rapids, 
Iowa : 

“My  shipping  experience  in  the  last  eight 
years  tells  me  that  at  least  one-third 
of  the  overcharges  are  the  fault  of  the 
shippers,  one-third  the  fault  of  agents 
and  bill  clerks  and  the  other  third  un- 
avoidable. If  you  want  your  freight 
to  go  through  without  overcharge, 
typewrite  your  shipping  ticket,  bills  of 
lading  and  shipping  instructions  and 
show  all  your  rates,  divisions,  routing 
and  deliveries  plainly  and  in  full.  After 
that  send  a full  copy  of  billing  instruc- 


15 


tions  to  the  soliciting  agent  of  the  line 
interested  or  the  line  who  asked  for 
the  freight  and  request  him  to  look 
after  it.  I have  never  had  one  refuse 
to  do  so.  I do  this  on  every  shipment, 
and  the  result  is  I have  less  over- 
charges now  than  I had  five  years  ago 
on  a business  of  one-half  the  present 
volume 

Distribution  of  Literature 

Business  bodies  have  cordially  joined 
in  the  dissemination  of  literature  pub- 
lished by  the  carriers.  On  the  subject  of 
packing,  the  pamphlet  by  Mr.  Kenly  of 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Line,  “Why  Freight 
is  Lost  or  Damaged,”  containing  photo- 
graphs of  freight  received  in  bad  order 
due  to  frail  containers,  afforded  ship- 
pers’ associations  an  opportunity  of 
which  they  took  immediate  advantage. 
Such  conservative  bodies  as  the  Chicago 
Association  of  Commerce,  the  Cleveland 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  many  others 
gave  their  influence  by  emphasizing  the 
appeal  to  shippers  for  better  packing  and 
by  circulating  many  thousands  of  copies 
of  the  pamphlet.  Mr.  H.  C.  Barlow, 
Traffic  Director  of  the  Chicago  Associa- 
tion of  Commerce,  reproduced  in  Chicago 
Commerce,  the  weekly  publication  of  that 


organization,  the  letter  of  the  General 
Managers’  Association  of  the  Southeast 
calling  attention  to  the  pamphlet. 

Information  as  to  routing,  while  de- 
signed to  inform  shippers  as  to  rates, 
time  schedules  and  records  of  perform- 
ance of  various  possible  ways  of  reach- 
ing a given  point,  also  have  a bearing  on 
loss  and  damage.  The  Chicago  Associa- 
tion of  Commerce  issues  at  intervals  a 
book,  “Way  to  Ship.”  One  edition  called 
attention  to  the  similarity  in  initials  be- 
tween the  names  of  two  lines  and  conse7 
quent  possibility  of  confusion.  Another 
issue  urges  shippers  to  encourage,  by 
using  them,  the  maintenance  of  through 
package  cars,  which  run  on  schedule  re- 
gardless of  quantity. 

“It  is  apparent,”  the  editor  remarks,  “that 
the  use  of  through  package  cars, 
thereby  placing  shipments  as  near  their 
final  destination  as  possible  without 
transfer,  reduces  delays  incident  to 
such  transfers,  and  by  reason  of  min- 
imized handling  lessens  liability  of  loss 
and  damage.” 

At  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  the  business  men 
maintain  a bureau  of  inspection.  Its 
agents  go  to  the  freight  houses  and  pass 
un  doubtful  packing.  Thus  the  station 
agent  is  relieved  of  the  embarrassment  of 
rejecting  frail  containers. 


FEDERAL  AND  STATE  GOVERNMENTS  TAKE  A HAND 


Watching  for  Disguised  Rebates  and  Regulating  Shippers  as  to  Proper  Mark- 
ing and  Packing 


The  Federal  Government  and  some  of 
the  States  have  taken  a hand  in  the 
freight  claim  problem  and  while  regu- 
lating the  carriers,  they  have  begun  to 
regulate  the  shippers — a turn  of  the 
wheel  which  is  not  without  its  humorous 
aspect. 

The  first  government  regulation  of  the 
shipper — the  opening  wedge — was  on  ex- 
plosives. The  railways  as  a whole  in 
1907  established  a bureau  for  inspection 
of  explosives,  to  manage  which  the  army 
lent  them  Col.  B.  W.  Dunn,  an  expert 
in  ordnance.  That  energetic  officer  forth- 


with drew  up  a bill  which,  with  amend- 
ments, Congress  passed,  directing  the  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commission  to  make 
and  enforce  rules  for  packing  explo- 
sives. The  bureau  made  the  rules,  the 
Commission  promulgated  them  and  so 
far  as  the  shipper  is  concerned  in  this 
respect  the  word  of  the  railroad  is  the 
law  of  the  land. 

Winning  the  Shippers 

Col.  Dunn,  however,  is  a graduate  of  a 
polite  school.  No  sooner  had  the  indus- 


16 


tries  which  must  use  costlier  containers 
made  known  their  apprehension  than  the 
Colonel  went  among  them  trade  by  trade, 
won  them  to  a sweet  reasonableness  by 
moral  suasion,  and  before  they  knew  it 
had  them  forging  rules  for  their  own 
tethering.  They  are  now,  moreover,  con- 
tributors to  the  support  of  the  bureau. 

Col.  Dunn  and  his  assistants  give  stere- 
opticon  lectures  to  business  organizations 
on  how  to  pack  and  to  railroad  employees 
on  how  to  handle  dangerous  freight. 
After  three  years  of  such  work  the  bu- 
reau reported  that  the  money  lost  to 
the  railroads  from  explosives  was  es- 
timated at  $500,000  in  1907,  $114,000 
in  1908  and  $2,600  in  1909 ; deaths,  52 
in  1907,  26  in  1908  and  6 in  1909;  and 
injured,  80  in  1907,  53  in  1908,  7 in 
1909. 

Ordinary  Merchandise , Too? 

It  having  thus  become  established  that 
the  Commission  under  authority  of  Con- 
gress could  compel  shippers  to  pack  and 
mark  freight  properly  when  the  goods 
were  of  a character  to  place  life  and 
property  in  danger  of  violence,  the  way 
was  paved  for  regulation  designed  to 

prevent  loss  of  money,  property  and 

trade  by  the  less  sensational  concussions 
which  afflict  ordinary  merchandise  when 
poorly  packed.  The  Commission  re- 
cently upheld  an  express  company  ruling 
for  packing  against  which  shippers  of 
millinery  had  protested.  Commissioner 
Harlan  defended  this  finding  on  the 
ground  that  “as  damage  claims  increase 
the  expense  of  carriage  and  thus  affect 
the  rates  ” it  is  reasonable  “to  discourage 
the  use  of  shipping  methods  and  shipping 
cases  that  are  lacking  in  safety !’ 

Congress  in  1900  amended  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Act  to  require  that  car- 
riers 

“enforce  . . . just  and  reasonable 

regulations  and  practices  affecting 
classifications  . . . bills  of  lading, 

the  manner  and  method  of  presenting, 


marking,  packing  and  delivering  prop- 
erty for  transportation.” 

How  far  the  Commission  will  go  in 
requiring  the  enforcement  of  rules  for 
packing  is  not  yet  determined.  Prof. 
Henry  C.  Adams,  in  charge  of  accounts 
for  the  Commission,  since  resigned,  was 
engaged  for  18  months  in  conferences 
with  a committee  of  the  Freight  Claim 
Association  with  a view  to  clearing  up 
the  claim  situation.  Prof.  Adams  in  a 
report  to  the  Commission  inquired : 

“Has  the  Commission  authority  to  issue 
an  order  to  the  carriers  that  freight 
improperly  marked  or  improperly 
packed  must  not  be  received f” 

As  arguments  in  support  of  that  propo- 
sition he  suggested  possible  discriminat- 
ory results  and  the  influence  on  rates. 
To  this  Commissioner  Harlan  replied 
that  the  Commission  was  disinclined  to 
interpret  its  authority  on  this  point  at 
this  time  and  preferred  to  hope  that  a set 
of  regulations  might  be  drawn  up  which 
the  Commission  could  sanction , as  it  did 
the  uniform  bill  of  lading,  and  “put  in 
effect  with  the  moral  support  and  upon 
authority  of  the  Commission  so  far  as  it 
has  authority.” 

Payments  Retarded 

While  desiring  to  promote  prompt  pay- 
ments, the  Commission  has  thus  far  ex- 
erted an  influence  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion ; for  its  first  care  has  been  to  guard 
against  rebates  disguised  as  claims.  Ex- 
aminers are  inspecting  claim  accounts  un- 
der general  instructions  to  detect  pay- 
ments made  upon  inadequate  proof  of 
liability.  This  has  made  carriers  very 
much  more  cautious  and  slowed  down 
the  settlements.  Many  roads  had  been 
paying  claims  on  a prima  facie  showing 
in  advance  of  investigation,  accepting  a 
bond  from  the  shipper  for  indemnity. 
The  Commission  has  ordered  this  discon- 
tinued, again  retarding  the  promptness  of 
settlements. 

Some  of  the  States,  on  the  other  hand, 
impose  heavy  penalties  for  delay  in  set- 


17 


tlement  of  claims  beyond  a specified 
period,  usually  60  days.  The  admonition 
of  the  Commission  and  the  prod  of  the 
State  law  places  the  carrier  in  some  cases 
between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea.  A 
South  Carolina  claimant  who  was  asked 
for  the  documents  required  by  the  exam- 
iners of  the  Commission  made  no  reply, 
but  at  the  end  of  60  days  sued  and  was 
upheld  in  damages  and  counsel  fees  by 
the  State  Supreme  Court.  As  one  claim 
agent  remarked:  “We  go  to  jail  if  we 
don’t  pay  and  we  go  to  jail  if  we  pay 
quickly  and  pay  wrong.” 

Bad  Packing  Criticised 

Apart  from  regulation,  the  Govern- 
ment has  other  relations  to  freight 
claims.  The  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  which  has  long  published  con- 
sular reports  telling  of  the  striking  in- 
feriority of  American  packing  to  that  of 
foreign  shippers,  published  an  illustrated 
pamphlet  entitled  “Packing  for  Export,” 
in  which  the  text  and  pictures  of  Mr. 
Kenly’s  booklet,  “Why  Freight  is  Lost 
or  Damaged,”  were  reproduced  in  part. 
Mr.  Gatchell  of  the  Southern  having  en- 
listed the  interest  of  the  department  in 
the  railway  phase  of  packing,  Secretary 
Nagle  delegated  Special  Agent  Charles 
M.  Pepper  to  address  the  Atlanta  Con- 
ference of  1910. 

“Generally  speaking,”  said  Mr.  Pepper, 
“in  packing  goods  for  export  France 
stands  first,  Italy  next,  Germany  next, 
then  England  and  the  United  States  at 
the  foot  of  the  list.  One  reason  for 


this  is  our  American  habit  of  indif- 
ference to  details.  We  are  prodigal  of 
our  wealth  and  do  not  like  to  bother 
with  what  we  consider  petty  things. 
Perhaps  instead  of  calling  our  indif- 
ference prodigality,  it  would  better  be 
named  f national  shiftlessness’  ” 

A new  edition  of  “Packing  for  Export” 
is  just  out,  with  a chapter  on  packing  for 
domestic  shipments  furnished  by  “the 
transfer  agent  of  a trunk  line  railroad.” 

Protection  of  Perishables 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has 
also  contributed.  Dr.  Mary  A.  Penning- 
ton, chief  of  the  food  research  labora- 
tory, bureau  of  chemistry,  in  an  address 
to  the  conference  committee  of  the 
Freight  Claim  Association  said  that  in 
seeking  a cure  for  the  spoiling  of  fruit 
and  vegetables  in  transit  she  had  found 
that  “the  keeping  of  the  apple  in  cold 
storage  depends  almost  entirely  on  the 
handling  of  that  apple  before  it  ever  goes 
to  cold  storage.”  Men  were  sent  to  Cali- 
fornia who  made  and  watched  experi- 
mental shipments  until  they  were  able  to 
announce  that  a California  orange  would 
carry  across  the  continent  and  back  again 
in  perfect  condition  if  it  left  California 
in  perfect  condition.  The  Department, 
at  the  request  of  the  carriers,  has 
also  under  investigation  questions  aris- 
ing from  freight  claims  on  grain,  which 
involve  differences  in  scales  and  natural 
shrinkage  (or  the  reverse)  of  the  grain 
itself,  due  to  moisture. 


SOME  CRITICISM  STILL  HEARD  ON  BOTH  SIDES 

Impartial  Report  of  Complaints  Made  by  Carriers  and  Shippers  as  to  Each 


Other’s  Shortcomings 

What  are  the  results  of  all  these  ac- 
tivities ? 

In  addition  to  the  general  tributes  al- 
ready quoted  from  shippers  or  their  rep- 
resentatives one  or  two  claim  agents  may 
be  quoted  as  to  figures  on  their  lines. 
One  of  these  carries  a compliment  to  the 
shippers  on  their  improvement  in  mark- 


ing— that  prolific  cause  of  loss.  Mr.  Bar- 
low,  of  the  Erie,  says  that  a few  years 
ago  a certain  freight  house  contained 
20,000  parcels  of  dead  freight,  of  which 
87  per  cent,  were  without  marks.  This 
has  been  reduced  to  less  than  1,000  par- 
cels, of  which  65  per  cent  is  refused  and 
unclaimed  freight,  “showing  that  the 


18 


failure  to  mark  freight  properly  is  a 
thing  of  the  past.” 

Another  exhibit  is  for  the  Rock  Island. 
Mr.  Bunger  says  that  with  accumulation 
of  the  past  and  receipt  of  159,667  loss, 
damage  and  overcharge  claims  in  1910 
(a  monthly  average  of  13,305),  the  un- 
paid claims  at  the  close  of  December, 
1910,  were  16,728,  which  included  dis- 
puted claims  of  several  years'  standing 
and  current  receipts  to  the  last  day  of  the 
month.  This  is  practically  current  hand- 
ling of  current  claims. 

As  to  the  amounts  paid,  Mr.  Battle, 


of  the  Norfolk  & Western,  reports  in 
1907  $273,231 .82,  or  .987  per  cent,  of 
freight  revenue,  and  in  1910,  $146,924.71, 
or  .470  per  cent,  of  freight  revenue. 
Business  increased  12  per  cent.,  while 
claim  payments  fell  52  per  cent.  These 
figures  suggest  the  hope  that  in  time  the 
arrearages  for  the  roads  as  a whole  will 
be  so  far  cleared  up  that  the  total  pay- 
ments, instead  of  increasing  $3,000,000  a 
year,  as  they  did  in  1910  over  1909,  will  * 
begin  to  fall  under  the  influence  of  meas- 
ures taken  to  prevent  loss  and  damage. 


SOME  RAILWAY  PRACTICES  STILL  CRITICIZED 


Criticism  by  shippers  has  not  ceased. 
That  there  is  still  much  which  can  be 
done  by  the  carriers  as  to  freight  claims, 
both  in  prevention  and  in  method  of  set- 
tlement, is  evident  from  their  continued 
and  concerted  efforts.  Even  a system 
highly  perfected  in  itself  will  break  down 
in  spots,  for  man  is  not  a machine. 
“Claimants,”  Mr.  Belleville  reminds  us, 
“are  very  prone  to  dwell  upon  cases  of 
this  kind  and  forget  the  prompt  adjust- 
ment of  perhaps  90  per  cent,  of  their 
claims.” 

Messrs.  George  G.  Pope  & Co.,  of 
Chicago,  who,  among  others,  were  asked 
as  to  their  experience  and  were  the  only 
firm  to  reply  without  acknowledging  gen- 
eral improvement,  discuss  a claim  of  a 
somewhat  unusual  and  technical  nature 
which  was  declined,  they  believe,  un- 
justly. They  accuse  the  railway  clerks 
of  carelessness  in  the  matter  or  a desire 
to  avoid  paying  just  claims. 

One  controversy  relates  to  incorrect 
weights  at  which  lumber  rates  are 
charged.  Disputes  continually  arise  over 
the  basis  of  estimates  put  on  where  scales 
are  not  available.  Lumber  also  is  far 
from  uniform,  being  shipped  all  the  way 
from  green  to  bone  dry,  which  creates 
confusion  in  estimating  weights.  A reso- 
iution  was  passed  at  the  last  convention 
of  the  National  Hardwood  Lumber  As- 
socation,  instructing  a committee  to  “urge 
the  correction  of  this  evil.” 


Mr.  Kelly,  of  the  Philadelphia  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  suggests : 

“If  the  clerks  investigating  claims 
would  be  instructed  by  the  freight  claim 
agents  that  their  function  was  not  to 
worry  claimants  or  to  try  to  avoid  pay- 
ments of  claims  but  that  when  claims 
were  presented  by  responsible  parties 
and  found  upon  investigation  to  be  just 
they  should  be  approved  promptly,  I 
think  such  a course  would  eliminate  much 
of  the  misunderstanding  existing.” 

Problem  of  the  Small  Station 

The  step  upon  which  the  Chicago  As- 
sociation of  Commerce  has  concentrated 
attention  is  to  smooth  the  way  for  direct 
and  satisfactory  dealings  between  the  rail- 
way agent  at  small  points  and  the  local 
consignee  having  claims,  especially  for 
overcharge.  The  interest  of  the  big 
shipper  in  the  small  one  is  less  sur- 
prising when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
out-of-town  consignee  is  the  Chicago 
jobber’s  customer.  Indeed,  the  jobbers 
say  that  consignees  are  referring  claims 
to  them  for  settlement,  or  asking  that 
charges  be  prepaid.  The  jobber  having 
a traffic  or  claims  manager  can  serve 
his  customers  in  this  way  at  little  or  no 
extra  expense  to  himself,  and  as  a novelty 
it  might  get  business,  like  trading  stamps ; 
but  in  competition  everybody  would  soon 


19 


be  doing  it.  In  any  event,  the  plan  which 
the  Committee  has  under  consideration 
is  not  to  encourage  the  reference  of 
consignees’  claims  to  jobbers,  but  on  the 
contrary,  to  secure  their  collection  from 
the  station  agent  direct  without  filing  any 
claim  at  all.  Consignees  are  urged  to 
check  up  weights  and  rates  on  their  ex- 
pense bills  and  take  them  up  with  the 
station  agent. 

On  the  other  hand,  an  effort  is  being 
made  to  get  the  railways  to  instruct  the 
agents  to  correct  mistakes.  “The  agent,” 
said  a member  of  the  Committee,  “has 
authority  of  law — in  fact,  he  is  com- 
manded by  law — to  charge  no  more  than 
the  published  tariff,  but  he  is  afraid  of 
the  company  and  considers  himself  now 
a sort  of  government  officer,  too,  so  that 
he  hesitates  to  do  anything  which  might 
get  him  into  trouble.”  Letters  had  been 
written  to  various  railways,  asking  them 
to  state  whether  they  had  instructed  their 


agents  to  correct  overcharges  without 
other  authority  than  their  own  knowledge 
of  actual  weight  and  the  published  rate, 
but  the  roads  had  not  given  a definite 
statement  that  such  were  the  instructions. 
He  thought  they  ought  to  be,  and  that 
the  only  proper  reason  for  hesitation  by 
the  agent  should  be  ignorance  of  the  rate, 
which  can  be  cured  by  writing  or  tele- 
graphing the  proper  traffic  office.  Special 
credit  is  given  to  certain  lines  for  check- 
ing up  in  their  accounting  offices  rates  on 
all  shipments  and  refunding  overcharges 
without  waiting  for  claims. 

Deficient  Accounting  Systems 

Complaint  is  made  that  some  of  the 
roads  are  deficient  in  team  work  in  their 
accounting  departments.  Shippers  say 
the  freight  claim  agent  will  show  the 
voucher  actually  made  out  and  approved 
by  him  and  that  many  weeks  will  then 
elapse  before  the  money  is  forthcoming. 


CARRIERS  POINT  OUT  SHORTCOMINGS  OF  SHIPPERS 


The  most  serious  criticism  against 
shippers  is  still  on  the  score  of  packing. 
Somebody  has  said  that  “The  American 
shipper  is  satisfied  when  he  gets  his 
clear  bill  of  lading,  and  the  foreign 
shipper  is  not  satisfied  until  the  consignee 
gets  his  goods.”  Mr.  H.  C.  Barlow,  of 
the  Erie,  referring  to  the  sub-committee 
of  the  Committee  on  Relations  Between 
Railroads  of  the  American  Railway  As- 
sociation, writes : 

The  Cost  of  Bad  Packing 

“There  is  no  question  but  what  a large 
outlay  is  made  annually  by  the  carriers 
due  to  a large  extent  to  inferior  pack- 
ages; and  while  it  is  not  the  purpose  of 
this  committee  to  antagonize  the  public 
or  reject  any  business  offered,  this 
committee  purposes  to  inaugurate  some 
system  whereby  individual  shippers 
who  are  derelict  in  this  respect  can  have 
their  personal  attention  called  to  same. 
“It  is  only  necessary  to  visit  the  piers  of 
the  Trans- Atlantic  lines  and  note  the 
difference  between  the  class  of  pack- 


ages delivered  them  for  transportation 
as  against  the  class  of  packages  de- 
livered carriers  for  transportation,  to 
satisfy  any  layman  of  the  importance 
of  carrying  this  suggestion  through.  It 
is  also  the  purpose  of  the  Committee  to 
recommend  to  all  station  agents  in  ter- 
ritories where  there  are  commercial 
bureaus  to  invite  representatives  of 
these  bureaus  to  visit  occasionally  the 
stations  of  carriers,  go  over  shipments 
and  satisfy  themselves  as  to  the  gen- 
eral condition  packages  are  tendered 
for  transportation.” 

Neglectful  Presentation 

Presentation  has  greatly  improved,  but 
carriers  declare  that  many  shippers 
still  appear  to  believe  the  railway 
can  and  should  pay  whatever  is  asked 
because  they  ask  it,  whether  or  not 
supported  by  evidence.  The  demand  for 
proof  or  authority  is  often  heard  with 
impatience.  Mr.  Calkins,  of  the  New 
York  Central,  tells  about  a claimant  who 


20 


sent  a bill  representing  value  of  goods 
checking  short  at  destination.  Mr. 
Calkins  acknowledged  its  receipt  and  in- 
formed him  that  it  would  be  necessary 
to  have  bill  of  lading , invoice  and  freight 
bill  in  order  to  locate  the  particular  ship- 
ment and  verify  the  claim.  The  claimant 
sends  the  freight  bill  and  suggests  that 
the  road  is  simply  trying  to  delay  the 
settlement.  “This,”  declared  Mr.  Calk- 
ins, “is  not  an  exceptional  case.” 

The  classic  instance  of  airy  certainty 
was  that  in  which,  years  ago,  the  freight 
auditor  of  a certain  road  figured.  A 
statement  reached  his  desk,  with  this  ad- 
dition: “This  is  the  common  law.”  The 
freight  auditor  sent  it  back  marked, 
“Please  attach  a copy  of  the  common 
law.” 

Suspicion  of  Fraud 

Railway  men  are  convinced  that  a con- 
siderable proportion  of  claims  are  wholly 
or  partly  fraudulent. 

“It  is  not  to  be  expected,”  says  Mr. 
Bunger,  of  the  Rock  Island,  “that  the 
carriers  will  ever  be  able  to  satisfy  the 
makers  of  improper  claims,  and  the 
work  necessary  in  the  investigation  of 
that  class  of  claims  will  continue  to 
be  a burden  on  the  carriers  and  in  a 
large  measure  responsible  for  some  of 
the  delay  in  the  settlement  of  just 
claims  until  the  time  is  reached,  if  ever, 
when  there  will  be  a penalty  against  the 
presentation  of  improper  and  unfair 
claims.” 

Mr.  Barlow,  of  the  Erie,  in  one  of  his 
witty  speeches  to  employees,  paused  for 
a tribute  of  admiration  to  the  devices 
employed  to  beat  the  railroad  : 

“We  all  know  of  the  household  furniture 
that  has  received  rough  handling — 
how  the  commonplace  parlor  or  dining 
room  furniture  becomes  solid  oak  or 
mahogany  of  antique  design  or  work- 
manship, and  the  cheap  ingrain  carpet 
is  converted  into  Axminster  and  body 
Brussels.  How  speedily  things  of  in- 
trinsically small  value  become  extra- 
ordinarily valuable  as  heirlooms ; how 
homespun  and  woolens  become  meta- 


morphosed into  silks  and  satins  of  rare 
design;  how  wearing  apparel  that  has 
been  worn  threadbare  becomes  as  good 
as  new. 

“We  are  all  familiar  with  the  trotting 
horse  slightly  injured  in  transit  which 
at  once  becomes  a son  of  the  great 
Rarus,  and  the  brooded  mare  with  the 
Hambletonian  strain — we  know  her 
well  and  the  irreparable  loss  which  her 
death  would  cause  her  owner. 

“These  varieties  of  claims  all  belong  to 
the  same  family  and  are  a survival  of 
the  days  when  the  railways  were  re- 
garded as  legitimate  prey.  That  the 
great  majority  of  claims  are  legitimate 
and  presented  in  good  faith  cannot  be 
doubted.  This  fact  is  now  generally 
necognized,  and  there  is  little  disposi- 
tion to  resort  to  sharp  practices  on 
either  side.” 

Mr.  John  Nichol,  of  the  Old  Dominion 
Line,  relates  of  a claim  presented  for 
loss  from  a box  that  the  consignee  him- 
self said  he  did  not  think  it  was  ever 
packed,  for  the  reason  that  the  box  was 
filled  to  its  capacity  and  that  it  was  a 
physical  impossibility  to  get  any  more 
goods  in  it;  and  certainly  is  was  a phy- 
sical impossibility  to  get  the  amount  in 
there  that  was  claimed  to  have  been 
packed  by  the  shipper.  The  shipper  in- 
sisted that  it  was  packed  and  tried  to  hold 
the  carrier  responsible ; the  consignee 
himself  did  not  think  it  was  packed  and 
refused  to  pay  the  bill.  When  that  con- 
signee wanted  to  come  back  to  New 
York  to  buy  goods,  he  wrote  Mr.  Nichol 
a letter,  asking  if  he  came  to  New  York 
and  service  was  made  upon  him  by  this 
party,  who  threatened  suit,  whether  the 
Old  Dominion,  as  originating  line,  would 
pay  the  expenses  of  his  defense. 

Appeal  For  Fair  Play 

Many  carriers  are  disposed  to  question 
the  fairness  of  the  shippers’  attitude  on 
“concealed”  loss  and  damage  claims. 
Several  Eastern  lines  provide  blanks  for 
affidavits  of  shipper,  drayman  delivering 
to  carrier,  drayman  receiving  from  car- 
rier, and  from  consignee,  all  stating  that 


the  package  was  not  opened  or  its  con- 
tents removed  while  out  of  carrier’s  cus- 
tody. Mr.  Stanley,  of  the  Seaboard  Air 
Line,  the  newly-elected  President  of  the 
Freight  Claim  Association,  has  advocated 
concurrent  action  by  all  the  roads  to  re- 
fuse payment  unless  such  facts  are  af- 
firmatively shown ; also  that  no  such 
claim  shall  be  entertained  unless  pre- 
sented within  48  hours  after  delivering 
to  the  consignee.  Mr.  Calkins,  of  the 
New  York  Central,  speaking  of  the  fre- 
quent instances  where  goods  are  packed 
in  cases  and  stored  for  weeks  or  months 
before  shipment,  or  left  unpacked  by 
consignee  weeks  or  months  after  delivery 
before  the  shortage  or  damage  is  dis- 
covered, states  that  in  such  cases  declina- 
tion to  pay  claims  has  been  followed  by 
shippers’  declaration  of  intention  to  ship 
over  another  road  which  is  willing  to 
pay  claims  under  such  circumstances ! 

Carriers  protest  against  the  prima  facie 
assumption  that  an  unlocated  theft  is  on 
them,  and  not  on  the  shipper.  Since 
the  shipper’s  word  is  accepted  as  to  what 
the  shipment  originally  contained,  car- 
riers contend  that  the  least  the  shipper 
and  consignee  can  do  is  to  give  their 
affidavit  that  the  goods  so  described  ac- 
tually ever  reached  carrier , and  that  the 
package , after  leaving  the  carrier,  was 
honestly  handled.  They  object  to  the 


rule,  “In  case  of  doubt,  soak  the  rail- 
road.” One  claim  agent  says  of  the  affi- 
davit blanks  mentioned,  that  through 
their  use  many  claims  have  been  with- 
drawn on  the  strength  of  information 
they  developed,  while  in  other  cases 
claimants  have  preferred  to  let  the  matter 
drop  rather  than  submit  the  statements. 

Dead  Claims  Still  Pressed 

President  J.  C.  Lincoln,  of  the  Traffic 
League,  mentions  that: 

“Some  concerns  make  it  a habit  even 
after  claim  has  been  thoroughly  in- 
vestigated and  declined  by  a railroad, 
for  good  and  sufficient  reason,  of  keep- 
ing the  claim  alive  on  their  books  in- 
stead of  either  charging  it  off  or  put- 
ting it  in  suit.” 

This  practice,  he  says,  delays  the  hand- 
ling of  live  claims.  Some  carriers  com- 
plain further  that  shippers  continue  to 
trace  claims  after  the  road  holds  receipts 
or  written  withdrawals,  this  usually  being 
due  to  failure  of  the  claimant’s  clerk 
to  post  the  bookkeeper.  One  claim  agent 
sent  a representative  a journey  of  600 
miles  to  show  such  receipts,  and  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  make  the  trip  twice 
more  before  the  matter  was  finally 
straightened  out  on  the  shipper’s  books 
and  the  presentation  of  those  claims  dis- 
continued. 


22 


THE  FUTURE 


Co-operation,  which  has  accomplished  the  results  already  obtained,  offers  the 
solution  of  problems  still  remaining.  A Chicago  shipper  displayed  a freight 
expense  bill  which  a consignee  at  an  outside  point  had  placed  in  his  hands  for 
correction  as  to  overcharge  due  to  overweights.  The  items  were  standard  pack- 
ages, the  weight  of  which  could  be  estimated  from  recorded  averages,  and  a 
check  showed  some  overs  and  some  unders,  with  a net  overweight  of  some  hundred 
pounds.  Scrutiny  of  the  bill  of  lading,  however,  revealed  that  a heavy  barrel  had 
been  omitted  from  the  expense  bill  altogether,  so  that  the  final  revision  indicated 
that  the  consignee  owed  the  road  a cent  and  a half. 

“Now  there  you  have  the  whole  problem,”  said  the  jobber.  “Hundreds  of  claims 
are  just  like  that.  If  this  man  had  taken  this  thing  up  with  the  station  agent 
and  they  had  discovered  together  what  I have  found  out  here,  they  would  have 
had  a good  laugh,  the  shipper  would  have  handed  the  agent  two  cents  and 
told  him  to  keep  the  change,  and  both  would  have  been  more  careful  and 
better-natured  in  the  future.” 

If  every  consignee  were  endowed  with  tolerance,  good  humor  and  the  re- 
sources for  employing  experts  similarly  equipped,  the  shortcomings  of  the  station 
agent  would  be  more  charitably  borne;  or  if  every  station  agent  could  possess 
justice,  wisdom,  diplomacy  and  tact,  and  could  have  ample  assistance  and  unlimited 
authority,  the  necessities  and  desires  of  consignees  would  be  anticipated,  their 
errors  condoned  and  their  peace  of  mind  assured.  But  the  carrier  must  take 
consignees  as  it  finds  them,  and  the  general  manager  must  depend  on  such  agents 
as  the  road  can  afford  to  pay.  The  agents  will  continue  to  be  made  of  much 
the  same  clay  as  the  consignees,  and  limited  by  much  the  same  general  kind  of 
infirmities. 

You  cannot  re-make  that  consignee  and  that  agent  by  statute.  You  have 
already  developed  both  of  them  by  education,  and  your  further  achievement  will 
be  accomplished  through  gradually  raising  in  every  region  the  standards  of  effi- 
ciency, of  tact  and  of  good-will  on  both  sides. 


23 


Railway  Bills  Introduced 
Sixty-second  Congress 


Senate 


WITH  NAMES  OF  SENATORS  INTRODUCING 

COMMERCIAL  TRAVELERS’  SAMPLE  BAGGAGE, 
b.  847.  Albert  B.  Cummins,  Iowa. 

Carrier  shall  transport  with  each  passenger,  baggage,  including  sample 
oaggage,  not  exceeding  150  pounds  for  an  adult  and  75  pounds  for  a minor 
less  than  12  years  old,  such  baggage  carried  without  compensation  other  than 
passenger  transportation  charge.  Baggage  of  commercial  travelers,  carried 
solely  for  transaction  of  their  business,  when  securely  packed  and  locked 
in  substantial  trunks  or  sample  cases  of  convenient  shape  and  weight  for 
handling,  hereby  declared  to  be  sample  baggage  within  the  meaning  of  act. 

HOURS  OP  LABOR. 

S.  848.  Albert  B.  Cummins,  Iowa. 

No  railway  employee  connected  with  movement  or  control  of  trains  to 
remain  on  duty  in  any  24  hours  period  unless  the  shift  shall  be  wholly 
within  14  hours.  Unlawful  beyond  such  time  to  require  employee  to  further 
continue  or  again  to  enter  upon  his  work  until  expiration  of  10  hours  of 
permitted  rest  or  cessation  from  work. 

BILLS  OP  LADING. 

S.  957.  Moses  E.  Clapp,  Minnesota. 

Identical  with  H.  R.  4726.  See  Bulletin  No.  7. 

INTEREST  IN  COMPETING  LINES. 

S.  2372.  Norris  Brown,  Nebraska. 

No  carrier  shall  acquire  directly  or  indirectly  any  interest  in  capital 
stock  or  purchase  or  lease  any  competing  railroad. 

COMMERCE  COURT. 

S.  2432.  Augustus  O.  Bacon,  Georgia. 

That  the  five  judges  of  the  Commerce  Court  shall  constitute  the  perma- 
nent judges  of  the  Court,  vacancies  to  be  filled  by  the  President;  circuit 
judges  not  to  be  eligible.  Jurisdiction  given  to  cases  relating  to  patents,  but 
not  over  cases  originating  in  the  Court  of  Claims. 


House 


WITH  NAMES  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  INTRODUCING 

SAPE  OPERATION  OP  TRAINS. 

H.  R.  4663.  Burton  L.  Prencb,  Idaho. 

American  Railway  Association  authorized  to  designate  to  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  within  six  months  from  passage  of  act  a standard 
code  of  rules  for  operation  of  trains.  If  the  American  Railway  Association 
fails  to  designate  such  code,  the  Commission  to  do  so. 

EXCHANGE  OP  ADVERTISING  TOR  PASSES. 

H.  R.  4675.  Everis  A.  Hayes,  California. 

Nothing  contained  in  Interstate  Commerce  Act  shall  be  construed  to 
prohibit  interchange  by  carriers  and  publishers  of  transportation  for  adver- 
tising and  printing  when  based  upon  lawfully  advertised  schedule  rates  of 
both  carriers  and  publishers. 


24 


CONTROLLED  WATER  ROUTES. 


H.  R.  6089.  Thomas  J.  Scully,  New  Jersey. 

Amending  Section  1 of  Interstate  Commerce  Act  so  as  to  bring  within 
the  definition  of  a common  carrier  subject  to  the  act  any  carrier  engaged  in 
transportation  “by  water  alone  where  the  waterway  is  owned  or  leased  by 
or  is  under  the  control,  management  or  operation,  by  stock  ownership  or 
otherwise,  of  a common  carrier  or  carriers  subject  to  this  Act.” 

INTOXICATING  LIQUORS. 

K.  R.  6293.  Edwin  Y.  Webb,  North  Carolina, 

Prohibits  shipment  or  transportation  from  one  State  to  another  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors,  in  original  package  or  otherwise,  intended  to  be  used  in  State 
where  delivered  in  violation  of  any  law  of  that  State. 

INTOXICATING  LIQUORS. 

H.  R.  7041.  Wyatt  Aiken,  South  Carolina. 

Intoxicating  liquors  upon  entering  State  of  destination  and  before  delivery 
to  consignee  shall  become  subject  to  laws  of  that  State  and  their  interstate 
commerce  character  cease,  original  packages  not  exempted.  Act  not  to  affect 
right  of  carriers  to  transport  liquors  from  one  State  to  another.  Carrier 
collecting  purchase  price  or  any  part  thereof  of  liquors  in  interstate  com- 
merce or  who  shall  in  any  manner  act  as  agent  of  consignor  saving  only  in 
actual  transportation  and  delivery  shall  be  subject  to  police  powers  of  State 
of  delivery. 

PHYSICAL  VALUATION. 

H.  R.  8092.  A.  W.  Lafferty,  Oregon. 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission  authorized  to  appraise  the  value  of 
property  of  railroad,  express,  telegraph  and  telephone  companies,  and  fix 
rates  based  upon  such  appraisements.  Commission  authorized  whenever  it 
shall  have  cause  to  believe  that  any  person,  company,  corporation  or  associa- 
tion is  exercising  a monopoly  in  the  interstate  sale  of  any  commodity  to 
issue  schedule  of  prices,  based  upon  valuation,  which  will  thereafter  govern 
in  the  interstate  sale  of  such  commodity,  subject  to  modification  by  Com- 
mission. Burden  of  proof  shall  rest  upon  parties  complaining  of  reasonable- 
ness of  such  prices  to  show  contrary. 

TRANSPORTATION  OP  NURSERY  STOCK,  ETC. 

H.  R.  8611.  James  S.  Simmons,  New  York. 

To  regulate  transportation  of  nursery  stock.  Establishes  quarantine 
districts  for  plant  diseases  and  insect  pests.  No  carrier  shall  accept  for 
transportation  any  nursery  stocks  container  of  which  is  not  plainly  and  cor- 
rectly marked  so  as  to  show  nature  of  contents,  consignee’s  name  and  country 
or  district  where  grown.  Secretary  of  Agriculture  authorized  to  determine 
dangerous  plant  diseases  and  warn  carriers  not  to  accept  nursery  stock  from 
quarantined  districts. 


ACCIDENT  COMPENSATION. 

H.  R.  8654.  David  J.  Lewis,  Maryland. 

Compulsory  compensation  by  carriers  to  injured  employees  or  dependents 
of  employees  who  die  as  a result  of  accident.  Where  injury  was  proximately 
caused  by  negligence  of  employer,  complainant,  on  approval  of  Court,  may 
elect  between  right  of  action  under  common  law  and  right  to  compensation 
under  this  Act.  Scale  of  compensation  prescribed  in  detail.  Agreements  to  be 
by  arbitration,  consent  to  arbitration  to  be  in  writing. 

POOTEOARDS  AND  HEADLIGHTS. 

H.  R.  8764.  James  R.  Mann,  Illinois. 

Switching  locomotives  must  be  equipped  with  safe  footboards  front  and 
rear,  running  entire  width  of  engine,  not  less  than  12  inches  wide  and  securely 
fastened  10  inches  from  tops  of  rails;  and  equipped  with  headlight  both  front 
and  rear,  maintained  in  serviceable  condition  and  kept  lighted  at  night. 

CRUELTY  TO  POULTRY  IN  TRANSIT. 

H.  R.  9243.  James  R.  Mann,  Illinois. 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  publish  regulations  for  containers 
for  live  ducks,  chickens,  turkeys  or  geese,  to  prevent  cruelty  in  transit.  Regu- 
lations binding  upon  carriers. 


25 


SLEEPING  CAES. 


H.  R.  9249.  Adolph  J.  Sabath,  Illinois. 

Unlawful  for  carrier  to  fail  to  furnish  exact  quality  of  accommodation 
which  any  prospective  passenger  within  12  hours  before  departure  of  pro- 
posed train  shall  have  reserved.  Carrier  shall  be  entitled  to  demand  as  a 
deposit  on  account  of  reservation  of  sleeping  car  accommodations  10  per  cent 
of  published  rate. 


MILK  FACILITIES. 


H.  R.  9323.  John  A.  Thayer,  Massachusetts. 

Carrier  shall  not  handle  milk  in  large  quantities,  or  permit  others  to  do  so 
under  contract  without  providing  as  regards  time,  care  and  preservation  of 
milk  and  return  of  empty  cans  equal  facilities  for  handling  milk  by  the  can 
over  the  same  portion  of  its  line,  nor  without  establishing  a tariff  for  milk 
by  the  can  which  is  the  same  rate  which  it  charges  or  receives  for  milk  in 
large  quantities. 


ISSUE  OF  SECURITIES. 


K.  R.  9324.  Clarence  B.  Miller,  Minnesota. 

Act  applies  to  all  persons  and  corporations  subject  to  Interstate  Com- 
merce Act,  specifically  including  telegraph,  telephone  and  holding  companies. 

No  corporation  to  issue  any  share  of  stock  except  at  par  for  cash  or  in 
exchange  for  property  or  securities  equal  to  par.  Corporation  may  pay 
commission  for  floating  subscriptions  if  such  commission  is  expressly  author- 
ized by  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  Any  company  in  continuous  exist- 
ence more  than  two  years  may  sell  additional  shares  at  a discount  with 
previous  express  approval  of  Commission.  No  corporation  shall  issue  evi- 
dences of  funded  indebtedness  maturing  more  than  50  years  from  date  or 
bearing  more  than  6 per  cent  interest;  or  at  a discount  such  that,  taking 
into  consideration  rate  of  interest  and  date  of  maturity,  net  return  shall 
exceed  7 per  cent  per  annum.  Funded  debt  hereafter  issued  shall  not,  together 
with  funded  debt  previously  outstanding,  exceed  capital  stock  actually  paid 
in  at  the  time;  but  corporation  having  funded  debt  outstanding  in  excess  of 
capital  stock  may  refund  any  part  of  funded  debt  in  future  by  issuing  not 
to  exceed  an  equal  amount  of  funded  debt.  Purposes  of  stock  and  funded 
debt  issues  confined  to:  Acquisition,  construction  or  improvement  of  prop- 
erty to  be  used  in  transportation,  telegraph  or  telephone  business;  refunding, 
provided  amount  of  securities  be  not  increased.  Operating  companies  may 
issue  stock  or  evidences  of  funded  indebtedness  in  exchange  for  securities  of 
other  corporations,  but  no  corporation  “shall  hereafter  acquire  or  hold” 
securities  in  parallel  or  competing  line,  nor  in  any  line  not  connecting. 

Holding  companies  permitted  but  must  not  hold  securities  in  two  parallel 
or  competing  lines  or  in  any  line  not  connecting.  Corporation  must  not 
issue  securities  in  exchange  for  property  or  purchase  property  of  securities 
of  another  corporation  at  a price  in  excess  of  reasonable  value.  Corporation 
shall  issue  only  such  amount  of  securities  as  may  be  reasonably  necessary 
for  purposes  authorized,  and  shall  not  apply  proceeds  to  any  other  purpose. 
No  preferred  stock  shall  be  issued  bearing  more  than  8 per  cent. 


BLOCK  SYSTEM. 

H.  R.  9330.  James  R.  Mann,  Illinois. 

Providing  for  gradual  installation  of  block  systems  through  a period 
of  years.  Bill  similar  but  differing  in  detail  from  H.  R.  1668,  John  J.  Esch, 
Wisconsin.  See  Bulletin  No.  7. 


CARRIAGE  OF  EXPLOSIVES. 

H.  R.  9429.  Eugene  F.  Kinkead,  New  Jersey. 

Act  regulating  transportation  of  explosives  amended  by  adding  that  regu- 
lations prescribed  by  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  shall  cover  packing, 
marking,  loading,  handling  while  in  transit  and  precautions  necessary  to 
determine  whether  material  when  offered  is  in  proper  condition  to  transport. 


PASSES  AND  ADVERTISING  CONTRACTS. 

H.  R.  9449.  Thomas  M.  Bell,  Georgia. 

That  carriers  and  publishers  may  contract  for  the  exchange  of  trans- 
portation and  advertising  at  schedule  rates  of  both. 


26 


COMPENSATION  FOB  INJURIES. 


H.  R.  9831.  Adolph  J.  Sabath,  Illinois. 

When  employee  of  carrier  is  injured  in  or  about  any  mail  route  or 
vessel,  carrier  or  vessel  shall  within  30  days  pay  compensation  without 
requiring  an  action  at  law.  If  the  person  was  an  employee  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time  of  injury  or  death,  the  United  States  shall  pay  compensa- 
tion from  a compensation  fund.  Establishes  bureau  of  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  under  a Commissioner  of  Injury  Awards  appointed  by  the 
President.  Salary  $6,000.  Any  forfeiture  provided  in  this  Act  shall  be 
payable  into  Treasury  of  United  States  to  credit  of  Compensation  Awards 
Fund.  System  of  taxes  by  stamps  on  issues  and  transfers  of  securities  and 
bills  of  lading,  and  $5  per  mile  on  every  mile  of  single  wire  mileage  of 
telegraph  lines;  these  taxes  to  be  suspended  in  respect  of  any  carrier  accepting 
the  Act  and  abiding  by  its  provisions.  In  respect  to  any  carrier  who  does 
not  accept  the  act,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  carrier  to  haul  passengers  over 
any  post  road  or  mail  route,  and  no  United  States  court  shall  entertain  a 
bill  for  injunctive  relief  to  such  a carrier  in  case  of  strike.  Any  carrier 
accepting  the  act  may  refuse  to  handle  express  matter  for  any  express  com- 
pany which  shall  not  have  accepted  the  act.  Scale  of  compensation  prescribed 
with  exact  annuity  to  be  paid  for  each  kind  or  degree  of  injury  and  degree 
of  dependence  in  case  of  death. 


STEEL  CARS. 

H.  R.  11822.  Charles  A.  Talcott,  New  York. 

After  Jan.  1,  1915,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  carrier  to  use  passenger  cars 
not  constructed  of  steel  upon  a plan  approved  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  and  carriers  must  refuse  from  their  connections  cars  otherwise 
constructed. 

INDEX-DIGEST  OE  RATE  ADVANCE  TESTIMONY. 

H.  R.  110.  Thetus  W.  Sims,  Tennessee. 

Authorizing  publication  of  an  alphabetical  index-digest  of  the  evidence 
and  exhibits  in  the  so-called  Eastern  and  Western  rate  advance  cases. 

SAFETY  APPLIANCES. 

H.  Joint  Res.  115.  S.  H.  Dent,  Jr.,  Alabama. 

Directs  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  report  within  six  months  on 
necessity  for  the  Andrew  safety  appliance  based  upon  practical  tests.  Also  to 
tabulate  accidents  from  spread  track  and  broken  rail,  broken  flange,  loose 
wheel,  broken  journal,  broken  axles,  dropping  brakebeam  or  shoe,  or  other 
causes  of  derailment  for  the  last  five  years,  and  amount  of  money  expended 
by  railroads  on  account  of  such  accidents.  Commission  to  recommend  legis- 
lation. 


Work  of  Sixty-second  Congress 
to  July  15,  1911 

BILLS  INTRODUCED 

Total  all  subjects  . 

. 15,067 

Pensions  .... 

. 9,716 

Total,  exclusive  of  pensions 

. 5,351 

Bills  specifically  affecting  railways 

39 

IMuiay  Mnmmss  Afiaoriatum 


George  A.  Post 

Hirp-Prmfrntta 

H.  H.  Westinghouse  O.  H.  Cutler  W.  H.  Marshall  E.  S.  S.  Keith 

A.  H.  Mulliken  O.  P.  Letchworth  A.  M.  Kittredge 

Gtoasttm 

Charles  A.  Moore 


E.  L.  Adreon 
S.  P.  Bush 
W.  E.  Clow 
J.  S.  Coffin 


fcxmtiuir  ilrmhrra 


Walter  H.  Cottingham 
William  C.  Dodd 
Henry  Elliot 
Alba  B.  Johnson 
W.  H.  Whiteside 


W.  B.  Leach 
E.  B.  Leigh 
W.  H.  Miner 
Rudolph  Ortmann 

W.  P.  Worth 


W.  G.  Pearce 
H.  G.  Prout 
J.  H.  Schwacke 
James  Viles 


Frank  W.  Noxon 


Assistant  (Treasurer 

M.  S.  Clayton 


fHmbfrs 

iulu  17,  1911 


Acme  Machinery  Co. 

Acme  Supply  Co 
Adams  & Westlake  Co. 

Ajax  Forge  Co. 

Ajax  Manufacturing  Co. 

Ajax  Metal  Co. 

Alan  Wood  Iron  & Steel  Co. 
Allis-Chalmers  Co. 

American  Bank  Note  Co. 

American  Brake  Co. 

American  Brake  Shoe  & Foundry  Co. 
American  Hoist  & Derrick  Co. 
American  Iron  & Steel  Mfg.  Co. 
American  Locomotive  Co. 

American  Nut  & Bolt  Fastener  Co. 
American  Radiator  Co. 

American  Steel  Foundries. 

American  Tool  Works  Co. 

American  Valve  & Meter  Co. 
Anglo-American  Varnish  Co. 

Atlantic  Works. 

Ayer  & Lord  Tie  Co. 

Baker  (Wm.  C.)  Heating  & Supply  Co. 
Baldwin  Locomotive  Works. 

Ball  (Webb  C.)  Watch  Co. 


Barbour  Stockwell  Co. 

Barney  & Smith  Car  Co. 
Barnum  Richardson  Co. 

Bass  Foundry  & Machine  Co. 
Beaver  Dam  Malleable  Iron  Co. 
Berry  Brothers,  Ltd. 

Bettendorf  Axle  Co. 

Block-Pollak  Iron  Co. 

Bordo  (L.  J.)  Co. 

Bosley  (D.  W.)  Co. 
Bourne-Fuller  Co. 

Bowser  (S.  F.)  & Co.,  Inc. 
Bradley  (Osgood)  & Sons. 
Bridgeport  Malleable  Iron  Co. 
Brill  (J.  G.)  Co. 

Bronze  Metal  Co. 

Brooker  (Charles  F.). 

Brown  Car  Wheel  Works. 
Buckeye  Steel  Castings  Co. 
Bucyrus  Co. 

Buda  Co. 

Buffalo  Brake  Beam  Co. 

Buffalo  Car  Wheel  Foundry  Co. 
Camel  Co. 


28 


Carter  Iron  Co. 

Central  Coal  & Coke  Co. 

Central  Electric  Co. 

Central  Railway  Signal  Co. 

Champion  Rivet  Co. 

Chase  (L.  C.)  & Co. 

Chicago  Bridge  & Iron  Works. 

Chicago  Car  Heating  Co. 

Chicago  Pneumatic  Tool  Co. 

Chicago  Railway  Equipment  Co. 

Chicago  Varnish  Co. 

City  Fuel  Co. 

Cleveland  Car  Specialty  Co. 

Cleveland  City  Forge  & Iron  Co. 

Cleveland  Copper  Ferrule  Co. 

Cleveland  Frog  & Crossing  Co. 

Cleveland  Twist  Drill  Co. 

Clow  (James  B.)  & Sons. 

Coale  (Thomas  E.)  Lumber  Co. 

Coale  Muffler  & Safety  Valve  Co. 

Columbia  Nut  & Bolt  Co.,  Inc. 

Columbia  Refining  Co. 

Columbus  Iron  & Steel  Co. 

Commonwealth  Steel  Co. 

Consolidated  Car-Heating  Co. 

Corning  Glass  Works. 

Crerar,  Adams  & Co. 

Crocker  Brothers. 

Crucible  Steel  Co.  of  America. 

Curtain  Supply  Co. 

Cyclops  Steel  Works. 

Davis-Bournonville  Co. 

Day  tan  Malleable  Iron  Co. 

Dayton  Manufacturing  Co. 

Dearborn  Drug  & Chemical  Works. 

Decatur  Car  Wheel  C®. 

Detroit  Hoist  & Machine  Co. 

Devoe  (F.  W.)  & Raynolds  (C.  T.)  Co. 
Dickson  Car  Wheel  Co. 

Dixon  (Joseph)  Crucible  Co. 

Dressel  Railway  Lamp  Works. 

Dudgeon  (Richard). 

Edgar  Allen  American  Manganese  Steel  Co. 
Ehret  Magnesia  Manufacturing  Co. 

Electric  Railway  Journal. 

Elliot  Frog  & Switch  Co. 

Faessler  (J.)  Manufacturing  Co. 

Fairbanks,  Morse  & Co. 

Flannery  Bolt  Co. 

Flood  & Conklin  Co. 

Forsyth  Brothers  Co. 

Fort  Pitt  Malleable  Iron  Co. 

Foster  (Walter  H.)  Co. 

Franklin  Manufacturing  Co. 

Franklin  Railway  Supply  Co. 

Franklin  Steel  Co. 

Galena-Signal  Oil  Co. 

Garlock  Packing  Co. 

General  Electric  Co. 

General  Railway  Signal  Co. 

General  Railway  Supply  Co. 

Gold  Car  Heating  & Lighting  Co. 

Gould  Coupler  Co. 

Graham  Nut  Co. 

Gray  (Peter)  & Sons,  Inc. 

Green’s  Car  Wheel  Mfg.  Co. 

Gress  Manufacturing  Co. 

Griffin  Wheel  Co. 

Hale  & Kilburn  Manufacturing  Co. 

Hall  Signal  Co. 

Hammett  (H.  G.). 

Hanna  (M.  A.)  & Co. 

Harbison-Walker  Refractories  Co. 

Hart  Steel  Co. 

Hartshorn  (Stewart)  Co. 

Haskell  & Barker  Car  Co. 

Heath  & Milligan  Manufacturing  Co. 
Hettler  (Herman  H.)  Lumber  Co. 

Hewitt  Manufacturing  Co. 

Heywood  Brothers  & Wakefield  Co. 
Hibbard,  Spencer,  Bartlett  & Co. 

Hickman,  Williams  & Co. 

Hildreth  Varnish  Co. 

Hines  (Edward)  Lumber  Co. 

Hoflus  Steel  & Equipment  Co. 

Hunt  (Robert  W.)  & Co. 

Hunt-Spiller  Manufacturing  Corporation, 
Hutchins  Car  Roofing  Co. 


Independent  Pneumatic  Tool  Co. 
Ingersoll-Rand  Co. 

Inland  Steel  Co. 

International  Steam  Pump  Co. 
Inter-Ocean  Steel  Co. 

Iroquois  Iron  Co. 

Jeffrey  Manufacturing  Co. 

Jenkins  Bros. 

Johns-Manville  (H.  W.)  Co. 

Joyce,  Cridland  Co. 

Joyce-Watkins  Co. 

Kay  & Ess  Co. 

Keasbey  & Mattison  Co. 

Keith  Car  & Manufacturing  Co. 
Kerite  Insulated  Wire  & Cable  Co. 
Keystone  Coal  & Coke  Co. 

La  Belle  Iron  Works. 

Laconia  Car  Company  Works. 

Lake  Erie  Iron  Co. 

Lidgerwood  Manufacturing  Co. 
Lobdell  Car  Wheel  Co. 

Locomotive  Finished  Material  Co. 
Lodge  & Shipley  Machine  Tool  Co. 
Long  (Charles  R.,  Jr.)  Co. 

Long-Bell  Lumber  Co. 

Lowe  Brothers  Co. 

Lunkenheimer  Co. 

McConway  & Torley  Co. 

McCord  & Co. 

Mcllvain  (J.  Gibson)  & Co. 

McNair  (H.  C.). 

McQuesten  (George)  Co. 

Magnus  Metal  Co. 

Manning,  Maxwell  & Moore,  Inc. 
Mansure  (E.  L.)  Co. 

Marshall  Car  Wheel  & Foundry  Co. 
Marshall-Wells  Hardware  Co. 

Marvin  Manufacturing  Co.,  Ltd. 
Maryland  Brass  & Metal  Works. 
Maryland  Car  Wheel  Works. 

Metal  Plated  Car  & Lumber  Co. 
Midvale  Steel  Co. 

Milwaukee  Coke  & Gas  Co. 

Miner  (W.  H.)  Co. 

Minneapolis  Steel  & Machinery  Co. 

Missouri  Malleable  Iron  Co. 

Morden  Frog  & Crossing  Works. 
More-Jones  Brass  & Metal  Co. 

Mott  (J.  L.)  Iron  Works. 

Mound  City  Paint  & Color  Co. 

Mt.  Vernon  Car  Manufacturing  Co. 
Mudge  (Burton  W.)  & Co. 

Murphy  Varnish  Co. 

Nathan  Manufacturing  Co. 

National  Export  & Commission  Co. 
National  Lock  Washer  Co. 

National  Machinery  Co. 

National  Malleable  Castings  Co. 

New  York  Air  Brake  Co. 

New  York  Belting  & Packing  Co.,  Ltd. 
Nicholson  File  Co. 

Niles-Bement-Pond  Co. 

Ohio  Malleable  Iron  Co. 

P.  & M.  Co. 

Pantasote  Co. 

Parkesburg  Iron  Co. 
Patterson-Sargent  Co. 

Peerless  Rubber  Manufacturing  Co. 
Pettibone,  Mulliken  & Co. 

Pickands,  Brown  & Co. 

Pickands,  Mather  & Co. 

Pittsburgh  Forge  & Iron  Co. 
Pittsburgh  Spring  & Steel  Co. 
Pneumatic  Gate  Co. 

Poole  Brothers. 

Portland  Iron  & Steel  Co. 

Positive  Lock  Washer  Co. 

Pratt  & Lambert,  Inc. 

Pratt  & Letchworth  Co. 

Pressed  Steel  Car  Co. 

Pyle-National  Electric  Headlight  Co. 
Railroad  Supply  Co. 

Railway  Age  Gazette. 

Railway  Steel-Spring  Co. 

Ramapo  Foundry  & Wheel  Works. 
Ramapo  Iron  Works. 

Rand,  McNally  & Co. 

Rank  & Goodell. 


29 


Republic  Iron  & Steel  Co. 

Revere  Rubber  Co. 

Robinson,  Cary  & Sands  Co. 

Rodger  Ballast  Car  Co. 

Rogers,  Brown  & Co. 

Ryerson  (Jos.  T.)  & Son. 

Safety  Car  Heating  & Lighting  Co. 
St.  Louis  Surfacer  & Paint  Co. 

St.  Paul  Foundry  Co. 

Schieren  (Charles  A.)  Co. 

Scully  Steel  & Iron  Co. 

Seattle  Car  Manufacturing  Co. 
Sellers  Manufacturing  Co. 

Sellers  (William)  & Co.,  Inc. 
Sherburne  & Co. 

Sherwin-Williams  Co. 

Simmons  Hardware  Co. 

Simmons  Mfg.  Co. 

Sipe  (James  B.)  & Co. 

Soper  Lumber  Co. 

Spencer  Otis  Co. 

Standard  Car  Truck  Co. 

Standard  Car  Wheel  Co. 

Standard  Coupler  Co. 

Standard  Forgings  Co. 

Standard  Paint  Co. 

Standard  Railway  Equipment  Co. 
Standard  Steel  Car  Co. 

Standard  Steel  Works  Co. 

Standard  Tool  Co. 

Storrs  Mica  Co. 

Symington  (T.  H.)  Co. 

Taylor  (W.  P.)  Co. 

Thompson  (Lewis)  & Co.,  Inc. 
Tindel-Morris  Co. 


Transue  & Williams  Co. 

Treat  (C.  A.)  Manufacturing  Co. 
Tyler  Tube  8c  Pipe  Co. 

Tyler  (W.  S.)  Co. 

Underwood  (H.  B.)  & Co. 

Underwood  Typewriter  Co. 

Union  Draft  Gear  Co. 

Union  Spring  & Manufacturing  Co. 
Union  Steel  Casting  Co. 

Union  Switch  & Signal  Co. 

United  States  Light  & Heating  Co. 
U.  S.  Metal  & Manufacturing  Co. 

U.  S.  Metallic  Packing  Co. 

United  Supply  & Manufacturing  Co. 
Walsh,  P.  T. 

Walworth  Manufacturing  Co. 

Ward  Equipment  Co. 

Warner  8c  Swasey  Co. 

Weir  Frog  Co. 

Western  Electric  Co. 

Western  Railway  Equipment  Co. 
Western  Wheeled  Scraper  Co. 
Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Co. 
Westinghouse  Church  Kerr  & Co. 
Westinghouse  Electric  & Mfg.  Co. 
White  Enamel  Refrigerator  Co. 
Whiting  Foundry  Bquiy  tient  Co. 
Willard  Sons  & Bell  Co. 

Winston  Bros.  Co. 

Wood  (Guilford  S.). 

Wood  (R.  D.)  8c  Co. 

Worth  Brothers  Co. 

Wyckoff  Pipe  & Creosoting  Co. 


30 


# 

* 


REQUESTS  FOR  COPIES 

of  this  pamphlet  will  be  welcome  from  all  those 
desiring  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  their  repre- 
sentatives, employees  or  friends.  Copies  furnished 
or  sent  direct  to  lists  upon  application  to  Frank 
W.  Noxon,  Secretary,  Railway  Business  Associa- 
tion, 2 Rector  Street,  New  York. 


t 


* 


Form  B63 


31 


(Emromttet  ntt 

J.  S.  Coffin  (Chairman) 

Pres.  Franklin  Railway  Supply  Co. 

W.  B.  Albright 

Ry.  Sales  Mgr.  Sherwin-Williams  Co. 

George  R.  Carr 

V.-P..  & G.  M.  Dearborn  Drug  and  Chemical 
Oliver  Crosby 

Pres.  American  Hoist  & Derrick  Co. 

Irving  T.  Hartz 

Pres.  Morden  Frog  & Crossing  Wks, 

Cornell  S.  Hawley 

V.-P.  Consolidated  Car  Heating  Co. 

Henry  S.  Hawley 

Pres.  The  Railroad  Supply  Co. 

F.  P.  Huntley 

V.-P.  Gould  Coupler  Co. 


fHemlierabip 

William  McConway 

Pres.  McConway  & Torley  Co. 

D.  B.  Meacham 
Rogers,  Brown  & Co. 

D.  W.  Pye 

Pres.  U.  S.  Light  & Heating  Co. 

E.  F.  Sands 

Pres.  Robinson,  Cary  & Sands  Co. 
Charles  W.  Scofield 
Treas.  Lake  Erie  Iron  Co. 
George  W.  Simmons 

V.-P.  Simmons  Hardware  Co. 

T.  H.  Symington 

Pres.  T.  H.  Symington  Co. 

Ward  W.  Willits 

Pres.  Adams  & Westlake  Co. 


‘Co  JXCanufadurers  and  ‘Dealers  in  ‘Railway  <0% Zaterial , Equipment  and  Supplies  and 
Contractors  in  Railway  Construction  : 


Let  the  Good  Work  Spread 

It  is  the  conviction  of  those  who  best  know  the  conditions  and  the 
results  accomplished  that  the  work  of  the  Railway  Business  Association  has 
been  and  is  effective  and  that  the  improved  public  feeling  toward  the  rail- 
ways if  continued  will  be  a strong  factor  in  sustaining  general  business  when 
prosperity  shall  have  returned. 

Our  membership  roll  is  now  widely  representative  and  of  fine  quality 
and  loyalty,  which  leads  this  committee  to  hope  that  a number  of  concerns 
not  yet  enrolled  will  join  us.  If  such  concerns  are  reluctant  to  come  in  now 
because  of  a feeling  that  their  previous  hesitation  will  make  them  unwelcome 
we  assure  them  the  membership  has  the  most  liberal  spirit  and  thinks  only 
of  what  will  strengthen  the  ^influence  of  the  movement.  Every  new  name 
of  an  industrial  institution  enlarges  the  circle  of  people  who  are  disposed  to 
give  a friendly  ear  to  our  doctrine  of  conciliation  and  co-operation. 

We  ourselves  are  enthusiastic  in  the  belief  that  the  further  this  work 
can  spread,  the  greater  will  be  the  public  benefit.  If  any  concern  is  in 
ignorance  or  in  doubt  about  our  purposes,  methods  or  results,  we  would 
welcome  an  opportunity  to  supply  convincing  information. 

J.  S.  COFFIN, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Membership 


2 Rector  Street,  New  York  City 


